Time for another episode of "ya gotta love those crazy Thai people"
It's more stories of stupidity, woe and deceit that keep bubbling up from the cauldron of discontent known as Suvarnabhumi. The land around the new airport had a growth surge as interested parties snapped up the houses and real estate in the area to enjoy the projected benefits of increased revenue through services and proximity to the new airport. Now these same entrepreneureal types are complaining about the aircraft noise! Having lived on flight paths several times already in my cheap accomodation history I would have thought these bargain hunters would have realised you can't have an airport without aircraft noise.
Taxi drivers who service the airport don't want to use their meters (plus the 50 baht tax), they want to play fleece the newly arrived tourist while he's still jet lagged and vulnerable, but the police (such party poopers) are fining these law breakers for not using their meters, so today two thousand or so of these taxi drivers protested about police harrassment bringing transport around the hub to a virtual standstill till a mediator was brought in to negotiate, now call me a weirdo but could this scenario fly in any other country?
Anyway off my soap box now, weekend was good went round to check out Kevin and Ian's new place in Ekkamai, trying to find the place was hell, Thailand is not big on logical addresses, street signs or house numbers, not sure I have ever seen a letter box (except in apartment buildings). We trundled out of Ekkamai station and down Sukhumvit soi 63 (which is also discreetly known as Ekkamai rd), eventually found the right soi than just wandered around the narrow cobweb of lanes trying to avoid getting trapped amongst the dead ends and moth carcase, some how trace our way to the correct silken thread. Eventually we heard the sounds of laughter and the smell of an excellent Indian curry.
Anyway kittens, I have midterms to write (still) not to mention lesson plans so I'll catch y'all latter,
Love N.J.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
Bangkok 13 November
Weekend, was pretty cool.
Went to Chatuchak, and bought some new sneakers, looked at undies but I really don't feel the need to emblazon my ass with "hello kitty" or any other cutesy cartoon motiff which is about all you can get (well that or crutchless undies for the working girl). Followed that with a trip over the river to my friends for a swim and mexican dinner. The weather is fantastic at the moment, everyday another perfect blood and gold sunset with pink and orange skies.
I would love to tell you about the characters who were in attendance at dinner but I fear it will have to wait for a semi fictional account so I can avoid litigation.
So sunday I finally found myself in little India, sandwiched between Thewet flower market and China town proper. A rabbit warren for the senses, bright swathes of clothe from India, silk, rayon, chiffon layered in rainbows everywhere you look, the garish colours of Indian sweets, clouds of incense fight there way between the crowds pressing down the narrow aisles. women in Saris wind their way between a phalanx of men who exude that slightly sleazy predatory oil that Indians are so well known for. I got totally lost and disoriented which is great fun if you have the time to look for yourself and then together work out how to get the hell out. You burst out onto one street after another and are faced with another rabbit warren, going with your instinct or getting out your map which probably doesn't have the little street your on listed anyway.
I did finally find my way back to the dock. Bkk at the moment around the banks of the Chao Phraya (and various other places) is still sandbagged as the water regularly leaps over the retaining walls or simply seeps up through the cobble stones on the streets that run along the river bank. The paddock outside our house is currently a swamp, in fact I saw a woman navigating her canoe across it just the other day. I finally believe Bkk is sinking, though by the time next years rains come I'm sure everyone will be desperate for them once again.
A new system of discipline is being implemented in the classroom tomorrow as one child complained about the old system (it's no wonder these kids are spoiled). We are actually going to be allowed to send kids to the principal. I think it's a great idea, hopefully it will result in better classroom behaviour but we shall see.
Anyway, it's time to go. Catch y'all later.
Love Nikki Jayne.
Went to Chatuchak, and bought some new sneakers, looked at undies but I really don't feel the need to emblazon my ass with "hello kitty" or any other cutesy cartoon motiff which is about all you can get (well that or crutchless undies for the working girl). Followed that with a trip over the river to my friends for a swim and mexican dinner. The weather is fantastic at the moment, everyday another perfect blood and gold sunset with pink and orange skies.
I would love to tell you about the characters who were in attendance at dinner but I fear it will have to wait for a semi fictional account so I can avoid litigation.
So sunday I finally found myself in little India, sandwiched between Thewet flower market and China town proper. A rabbit warren for the senses, bright swathes of clothe from India, silk, rayon, chiffon layered in rainbows everywhere you look, the garish colours of Indian sweets, clouds of incense fight there way between the crowds pressing down the narrow aisles. women in Saris wind their way between a phalanx of men who exude that slightly sleazy predatory oil that Indians are so well known for. I got totally lost and disoriented which is great fun if you have the time to look for yourself and then together work out how to get the hell out. You burst out onto one street after another and are faced with another rabbit warren, going with your instinct or getting out your map which probably doesn't have the little street your on listed anyway.
I did finally find my way back to the dock. Bkk at the moment around the banks of the Chao Phraya (and various other places) is still sandbagged as the water regularly leaps over the retaining walls or simply seeps up through the cobble stones on the streets that run along the river bank. The paddock outside our house is currently a swamp, in fact I saw a woman navigating her canoe across it just the other day. I finally believe Bkk is sinking, though by the time next years rains come I'm sure everyone will be desperate for them once again.
A new system of discipline is being implemented in the classroom tomorrow as one child complained about the old system (it's no wonder these kids are spoiled). We are actually going to be allowed to send kids to the principal. I think it's a great idea, hopefully it will result in better classroom behaviour but we shall see.
Anyway, it's time to go. Catch y'all later.
Love Nikki Jayne.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Bangkok 9 Nov.
It is no longer technically a bloodless coup, some taxi driver felt compelled to commit suicide in protest, worse, it was his second attempt! After the failure of the first attempt a government official foolishly said he didn't think he was serious, so the taxi driver (not wishing to loose face) Had to make damn sure he got it right the next time. (Some people say I take politics too seriously but hell I wouldn't kill myself over it).
The fifth of November here was massive (a coincidence) It fell on Loy Kratong, which is a huge festival which happens amidst great fireworks, and thanksgiving for the rains and rice harvest at the end of rainy season (November's full moon). People make little floating flower rafts with incense and candles atop and set them adrift down rivers and Klongs across the nation, pushing bad energy and thoughts away and praying for a better new year. the best ones were made out of bread or pastry so they had the double bonus of feeding the local fish so simultaneously making merit with the Buddah. The worst employ polystyrene bases which then pollute the very waterways which ironically are the same ones the people are praying their thankfullness to.
We had another Parent teacher day, wow some of my Parents are hard core. One set of Parents had graphed their sons results, (the two EP1 and my semester together) so we could see if his grades were up or down in each half year (thankfully they were up). He then asked how we could get his mark up to 90% (I don't know if this kid is capable of that). Some parents want more homework, others less, you can't please any of the people any of the time so it seems sometimes.
My kids were telling me today that English is easy and Thai lessons are hard so that at least makes me feel I am on the right track, In two weeks we tackle the sexual organs (and good and bad touching) in Science that should be a wild week.
Anyways better scram.
The fifth of November here was massive (a coincidence) It fell on Loy Kratong, which is a huge festival which happens amidst great fireworks, and thanksgiving for the rains and rice harvest at the end of rainy season (November's full moon). People make little floating flower rafts with incense and candles atop and set them adrift down rivers and Klongs across the nation, pushing bad energy and thoughts away and praying for a better new year. the best ones were made out of bread or pastry so they had the double bonus of feeding the local fish so simultaneously making merit with the Buddah. The worst employ polystyrene bases which then pollute the very waterways which ironically are the same ones the people are praying their thankfullness to.
We had another Parent teacher day, wow some of my Parents are hard core. One set of Parents had graphed their sons results, (the two EP1 and my semester together) so we could see if his grades were up or down in each half year (thankfully they were up). He then asked how we could get his mark up to 90% (I don't know if this kid is capable of that). Some parents want more homework, others less, you can't please any of the people any of the time so it seems sometimes.
My kids were telling me today that English is easy and Thai lessons are hard so that at least makes me feel I am on the right track, In two weeks we tackle the sexual organs (and good and bad touching) in Science that should be a wild week.
Anyways better scram.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Bangkok 29 October
When we arrived back home it had been raining, The street had puddles that were half way up your calves, the klong was well over it's banks, and the paddocks we see from our balcony window now have little canoes that gently navigate amongst the reeds, though what the folk in them are doing I have yet to ascertain. Now the puddles have thankfully subsided and I am once again in the made panic of writing a million lesson plans, before school starts.
I have been offered a gig training the TEYL course for spencer, which considering I was only a student on it six months ago seems like tremendously rapid promotion, but I figure it will look good on my resume if nothing else.
Went to a drama course on Friday, the lunch was fabulous, real cheese plates and smoked salmon and other delectable and delicious morsels, the course was ok but not terribly relevant for us as English and not drama teachers, a least Kevin and Ian were there to keep me entertained and I went and stayed at Taz's place in Thonburi after.
Went to the forensic museum today, fabulous, weird, spooky, it's full of pallid human organs floating in glass blocks of formaldehyde. I will never eat, smoke, drink, get on a motorbike, in a car or go near a bullet or knife again, it's amazing. The head sliced in half, each in its own block, the two slabs separated down the bullets trajectory (forehead to rear base of the skull) leading me to assume the victim must have been on his knees, the brain tissue in the groove feathered and fringed amongst the normal tight coils of brain. The many little foetus, with chicken skin and tight little fists, some with screwed up little screaming faces, others like astronauts in gravity free, free fall umbilical cords still in place, others still in utero, twins one in free fall the other still tucked in the womb, the cover peeled back like a sleeping bag with the corner unzipped. A small infant who drowned sits in a cross legged pose looking serenely like a little buddha a row of jagged stitches all the way up his torso where the autopsy was carried out. In the Thai tradition many of these exhibits have coins, sweets and toys scattered about for the little ones to take into the after life. There are three naked mahogany coloured mumified adults, 1 naturally so and two executed rapist/murders who stand in nasty metal drip trays, that remind one of Hanibal Lecters sunday roast. There is a whole section devoted to the horrors of the 2004 Tsunami disaster and the logistical and forensic nightmare that it posed for all involved.
The museum is part of a museum trifecta, the anatomy museum (unfortunately currently closed for renovations ). The forensic described above and the parasite museum, the horror stories of all the different kinds of insect borne diseases, worms and other nasties was squirm inducing, the photo's of bums in the air with great stringy mountains of worms being unceremoniously hauled out was nasty, something I never had to deal with while nursing, my ghoulish nature in conflict with my squeamish inner self. I feel inspired to rush to the nearest hospital and make sure all my shots are up to date, in fact I'm sure it's time I had boosters for everything and perhaps one of those hygenic plastic bubbles to walk round in might be nice too. Thankfully one of my girlfriends called and I had to drag myself away before I could sink into complete paranoia.
Anyway I must away and teach before the school works out I only come here to connect to the Internet and write lesson plan
I have been offered a gig training the TEYL course for spencer, which considering I was only a student on it six months ago seems like tremendously rapid promotion, but I figure it will look good on my resume if nothing else.
Went to a drama course on Friday, the lunch was fabulous, real cheese plates and smoked salmon and other delectable and delicious morsels, the course was ok but not terribly relevant for us as English and not drama teachers, a least Kevin and Ian were there to keep me entertained and I went and stayed at Taz's place in Thonburi after.
Went to the forensic museum today, fabulous, weird, spooky, it's full of pallid human organs floating in glass blocks of formaldehyde. I will never eat, smoke, drink, get on a motorbike, in a car or go near a bullet or knife again, it's amazing. The head sliced in half, each in its own block, the two slabs separated down the bullets trajectory (forehead to rear base of the skull) leading me to assume the victim must have been on his knees, the brain tissue in the groove feathered and fringed amongst the normal tight coils of brain. The many little foetus, with chicken skin and tight little fists, some with screwed up little screaming faces, others like astronauts in gravity free, free fall umbilical cords still in place, others still in utero, twins one in free fall the other still tucked in the womb, the cover peeled back like a sleeping bag with the corner unzipped. A small infant who drowned sits in a cross legged pose looking serenely like a little buddha a row of jagged stitches all the way up his torso where the autopsy was carried out. In the Thai tradition many of these exhibits have coins, sweets and toys scattered about for the little ones to take into the after life. There are three naked mahogany coloured mumified adults, 1 naturally so and two executed rapist/murders who stand in nasty metal drip trays, that remind one of Hanibal Lecters sunday roast. There is a whole section devoted to the horrors of the 2004 Tsunami disaster and the logistical and forensic nightmare that it posed for all involved.
The museum is part of a museum trifecta, the anatomy museum (unfortunately currently closed for renovations ). The forensic described above and the parasite museum, the horror stories of all the different kinds of insect borne diseases, worms and other nasties was squirm inducing, the photo's of bums in the air with great stringy mountains of worms being unceremoniously hauled out was nasty, something I never had to deal with while nursing, my ghoulish nature in conflict with my squeamish inner self. I feel inspired to rush to the nearest hospital and make sure all my shots are up to date, in fact I'm sure it's time I had boosters for everything and perhaps one of those hygenic plastic bubbles to walk round in might be nice too. Thankfully one of my girlfriends called and I had to drag myself away before I could sink into complete paranoia.
Anyway I must away and teach before the school works out I only come here to connect to the Internet and write lesson plan
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