tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85903690916935911802024-03-05T07:52:05.115-08:00Teaching English in ThailandPaulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-30972342950398712642013-12-06T00:04:00.000-08:002013-12-06T00:04:30.124-08:00Extra English lessons after school<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">One afternoon after returning early from school we went
to visit Pim’s mother at work. She owns a small shop opposite primary school in
the village, where for a few baht she offers snacks and drinks to kids. We
arrived at the time when classes at school finished and found the shop crowded
with kids. Two of them approached me immediately and started asking all questions
they knew – what is your name, where are you from, how old are you etc. At the
same time the others were just observing from far, too shy to speak to a
foreigner. Luckily after a few minutes of gazing from a distance they became
more comfortable and slowly the crowd started talking to me. After hearing all
of them answer a few simple questions they warmed up and were ready to show me
all they learned at school. Out of a sudden one girl stood in front of the
group and as if she was reciting a poem she said:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">My name is xxx, I’m 10 years old. I’m a student. My
school is xxx. My director’s name is xxx. My father’s name is xxx. He is a
farmer. My mother’s name is xxx. She is a farmer. My friend’s name is xxx. I
like to eat xxx. I like to drink. My </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">favourite</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> fruit is xxx. My birthday is xxx. Thank you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the first
brave presenter I heard the exact same expression from every single child. It was
sweet to see how overwhelmed they were and how big this performance was for
them. I could feel that even if their English level was low they were truly
interested in learning and understanding it. I liked this group very much </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> We soon left home and they
also went their ways. Later I heard from Pim that they don’t have an English
teacher at the primary school, so the only English lessons they receive is from
someone who knows how to speak a bit. From what I noticed the main focus on
these classes was to memorize a few English sentences… </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YwE2NRdrzxq7X33wMPWLdTjjjk4k8aPaGdjwgvML1Wqqufo2D7PzDlEGDgO26IOSGcbtF-yMWQtFvTa_rJMGFSXIgsXGFJkqqTtdRszTCvXoQyEyFPZ8QN_ms-yMkvo5xWm1G4q8F49W/s1600/DSC06512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YwE2NRdrzxq7X33wMPWLdTjjjk4k8aPaGdjwgvML1Wqqufo2D7PzDlEGDgO26IOSGcbtF-yMWQtFvTa_rJMGFSXIgsXGFJkqqTtdRszTCvXoQyEyFPZ8QN_ms-yMkvo5xWm1G4q8F49W/s320/DSC06512.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">My new friends :)</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eHNqGiQ8V2VLjca6zE6P2rpvkKmACjQWYA_t3P8EMccpfR2eg-lwwbwkmTkjDF4E2J4hhhHYIOIahsuBUPAxe6rR1TrT5OCsrsZwmahFeTDNwTtQQ68NvcDi48Cut_fo12-PAGLFVshY/s1600/DSC06516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eHNqGiQ8V2VLjca6zE6P2rpvkKmACjQWYA_t3P8EMccpfR2eg-lwwbwkmTkjDF4E2J4hhhHYIOIahsuBUPAxe6rR1TrT5OCsrsZwmahFeTDNwTtQQ68NvcDi48Cut_fo12-PAGLFVshY/s320/DSC06516.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYW6F47oRHuodWZs3o_kIsMOmehc0f3lyMNixBOpq_Gs9DNjy6spdq6SoqbCYBiEsYh6bDXlbK5Xz2Hl2IyvmBPekZn5KuDIyJormY2_MSRk1DqswKPGNCHl-gYmMVvOClcX8-nAhQDA0/s1600/10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; height: 199px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 320px;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYW6F47oRHuodWZs3o_kIsMOmehc0f3lyMNixBOpq_Gs9DNjy6spdq6SoqbCYBiEsYh6bDXlbK5Xz2Hl2IyvmBPekZn5KuDIyJormY2_MSRk1DqswKPGNCHl-gYmMVvOClcX8-nAhQDA0/s320/10.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxcQbasoL24YK6FZe9Cxf7Xi3MZjXC5lGHnISW7UcBnpnjJ_FFMP86HSMesCLSmNL4ZsWDUq5ZSclV7o55Y1XLRr3Ksk4WTbxw3-odAJvsLNdjTCxmBfdI_M8rOrnfzFATetFB8IyGgPr/s1600/DSC06558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxcQbasoL24YK6FZe9Cxf7Xi3MZjXC5lGHnISW7UcBnpnjJ_FFMP86HSMesCLSmNL4ZsWDUq5ZSclV7o55Y1XLRr3Ksk4WTbxw3-odAJvsLNdjTCxmBfdI_M8rOrnfzFATetFB8IyGgPr/s320/DSC06558.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Sunset in our village</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">The day after when we arrived from school the kids were
walking around our house, waiting for us to come back home. They were shy to
come by without being invited, so they just whispered “hello” from the distance…
We invited them over to enter the house. They were four of them and they came
to sing me a song which they learned at school. It was a song of Rod Steward “I’m
sailing” – you can see their performance under this link (</span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVSM-GwTevI" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">Thai kids singing Rod Steward</span></a><span style="color: white;">)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">I found the music to the song and we ended up singing it
together for a few times. They were very happy that I liked their singing and
that I joined them. We agreed that the day after we will learn a new song. </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> I was very excited for
these after work lessons and the same on their side – they were happy to have a
foreigner teacher giving them a lot of attention </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">And so our English class continued the day after with the
song Old MacDonald had a farm</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> – a
very easy song to learn and have a bit of fun with it. When we arrived home
from school a few of the kids were already waiting in front of our house – the
news spread and there were nine of them today. I printed the lyrics for them
and together with Pim we translated them and were ready to sing. They were very
motivated to learn and very attentive when we explained the pronunciation. It
was a lot of fun and they were adorable singing </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> When it got darker I was happy to see them
walk by while repeating the lyrics… </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyE9NzbGnnX4JY3xoQhjyMlJr9e_B4S2YtKuaqItJc4cwvUtTcz3v64FMiqTGpVN8WnkXiaUS8_udh5t0ojAfc_J8R1YMMHHV5IqjyDfpSguArQQsIA-dSvha-NaxQyivttWpKZGsggglG/s1600/DSC06566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyE9NzbGnnX4JY3xoQhjyMlJr9e_B4S2YtKuaqItJc4cwvUtTcz3v64FMiqTGpVN8WnkXiaUS8_udh5t0ojAfc_J8R1YMMHHV5IqjyDfpSguArQQsIA-dSvha-NaxQyivttWpKZGsggglG/s320/DSC06566.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgiDBARWj12tqQ3D-Bv4tI_Xd4UKcaCq8T45dUCfRLJY0LrjjJZJnyvrWYbEb7WLxLtv_xWM862fAbBDHolsJZxG6Xy0W7npwVjiqSR1BqRekQhBndN1pCcydLQ0nd9VQJwDWVRwHPwLei/s1600/DSC06568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgiDBARWj12tqQ3D-Bv4tI_Xd4UKcaCq8T45dUCfRLJY0LrjjJZJnyvrWYbEb7WLxLtv_xWM862fAbBDHolsJZxG6Xy0W7npwVjiqSR1BqRekQhBndN1pCcydLQ0nd9VQJwDWVRwHPwLei/s320/DSC06568.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi200oS882JfPyvRf2OsWIcGSX4aIF5tOu7tonac9G-Kyme0WxsXCH_pOKufFEvr10XL_-AyBGhu3zc1gacQF7CMiNAjMTclCPAE1bBtmqfT-h3kTi5OlH4OpiGBGT73xPtgT81kI8jQRGA/s1600/DSC06572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi200oS882JfPyvRf2OsWIcGSX4aIF5tOu7tonac9G-Kyme0WxsXCH_pOKufFEvr10XL_-AyBGhu3zc1gacQF7CMiNAjMTclCPAE1bBtmqfT-h3kTi5OlH4OpiGBGT73xPtgT81kI8jQRGA/s320/DSC06572.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkwJzl99f8m9hmgx41S3awM9hrBcNWFSWWf_O2qz6QjihjyrbzJT-bJB_dVVT7iOrSuEVj7aCSOw5phbh4oPjgOUjcc6a1fapIqHga4CzTu1xnS9lR7JIWUsMoRmQOUcKoeE8iKyIXGoS/s1600/DSC06576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkwJzl99f8m9hmgx41S3awM9hrBcNWFSWWf_O2qz6QjihjyrbzJT-bJB_dVVT7iOrSuEVj7aCSOw5phbh4oPjgOUjcc6a1fapIqHga4CzTu1xnS9lR7JIWUsMoRmQOUcKoeE8iKyIXGoS/s320/DSC06576.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2R8ykQ6e4Zti0JOEsJi0rAhMy1Vj-f2Yz3PWXe8SjuCzUVHlzRgmSflESG7bia_4VUHN-WnfbpNQ1BD3f43TZxpfOsJ1lh5k_0819IHzxpboE41UUmf32Yc7ljnFoyVJ2FGCN80ZpIwrm/s1600/DSC06583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2R8ykQ6e4Zti0JOEsJi0rAhMy1Vj-f2Yz3PWXe8SjuCzUVHlzRgmSflESG7bia_4VUHN-WnfbpNQ1BD3f43TZxpfOsJ1lh5k_0819IHzxpboE41UUmf32Yc7ljnFoyVJ2FGCN80ZpIwrm/s320/DSC06583.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-54508444947241147732013-12-05T21:12:00.001-08:002013-12-05T22:14:07.775-08:00Tourist for a weekend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="290">
<div abp="6">
<span abp="291"><span abp="8"><span abp="474"><span style="color: white;">
<span abp="292" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Once I returned to teaching in Saikeaw I knew that my
next weeks will be calmer as I will stay here until the end of my volunteer
program. The third work week passed quickly. Days at school were busy and I was
focused on getting to know my students better. In my free time I searched for
lessons’ materials that will be both informative and interesting and planned my
weekend trip to the “famous south”. My friend Javier was visiting Thailand and
we tried to match our travelling paths at least for a weekend. What a cool idea
to meet up on the other side of the world and explore the unknown together. :) Due
to adverse weather the trip was different from what we expected, but still it
was a memorable weekend.<o:p abp="293"></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="294">
<div abp="12">
<span abp="295" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<div abp="296" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="15">
<span abp="297"><span abp="17"><span abp="477"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="298" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The trip was quite long. In order to get reach Bangkok I
had to take an overnight bus on Thursday evening. A bit hesitant on that, but
left with no other choice I left Prasat around 10pm and quickly fell asleep in
a comfortable chair with massage… Around 4am I arrived to Bangkok and took a
colorful taxi to the airport – taxis in Bangkok have all colors of the rainbow
– starting from standard yellow to orange, flashy pink or green. </span><span abp="299" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="300" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="301" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> My flight was comfortable
and around 8:30am I arrived to Krabi. I was welcomed by rain… That’s not
exactly what I expected, but as always I tried to stay positive. We met with
Javier and Felipe at their hostel and took a boat to Koh Phi Phi island. We
planned to stay one night in Koh Phi Phi, take a morning boat around to see Phi
Phi Leh and spend the next night in the mainland, in Ao Nang. <o:p abp="302"></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="303">
<div abp="24">
<span abp="304" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<div abp="305" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="27">
<span abp="306" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span abp="307"><span abp="30"><span abp="483"><span style="color: white;">So how was the amazingly beautiful Koh Phi Phi island? Not
too impressive under the rain I must say… Due to weather conditions boat trips
were cancelled and we didn’t manage to see the Phi Phi Leh with the paradise
beach. Also the day after, when we were supposed to leave the island we learned
that due to wind and high waves there are no boats today… Some people scared us
that last time it happened it lasted 5 days, but luckily for us the day after
everything was working. After we heard that one boat sank in the morning we
haven’t searched for alternative ways to leave the place… <o:p abp="308"></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="309">
<div abp="33">
<span abp="310" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<div abp="311" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="36">
<span abp="312" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span abp="313"><span abp="39"><span abp="485"><span style="color: white;">So what do you do when stranded on an island? Thai people
took care of that – along the streets were dozens of tiny shops offering
souvenirs, clothes, tattoos, Thai massages, beauty treatments etc. During our
two days on the island we walked around those, bought some gifts and enjoyed
the massages. Thai people we met there had a real entrepreneurship spirit and
would try to sell you as much as possible… You could feel that they were very
friendly, but not because of their hospitality, but because we brought them
money. What would I expect? Some decency I guess… I was especially disappointed
with restaurants. Not only we paid at least two times higher price comparing to
what I’m used to pay in the north, but the portions we were served were very
small and not very tasty… Adding to that service of poor quality didn’t make
our restaurants’ visit very successful. The last night was the only exception –
even if weird waiter served us the meals were delicious and we even received a
free lesson of Thai language – a printed page listing a few basic expressions
to communicate, so called survival vocabulary.<o:p abp="314"></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="315">
<div abp="42">
<span abp="316" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<div abp="317" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="45">
<span abp="318"><span abp="47"><span abp="487"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="319" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Luckily, the night life on the island didn’t slow down in
the rainy weather and this saved our weekend </span><span abp="320" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="321" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="322" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> While walking in the rain in the search of
pancakes ;) on our first night we randomly found a bar with a ring and Thai
boxing fights. It appeared that anyone interested could fight, even the
tourists – for what they would receive a bucket of alcohol. And the later in
the night the more tipsy tourists would try their luck fighting on the ring. I couldn’t’
believe in it, especially because just before we entered we saw a young man
knocked out – carried outside by a few other guys <span abp="323" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who put him on a small rickshaw explaining him
and his terrified girlfriend (as I assumed) directions to hospital… But still,
people were very courageous and watching the fights was a lot of fun for us. A
special show was when we saw two girls fighting on the ring. One of them was
pretty good, while the second one did kind of dance / attempt to fight... <span abp="324" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once midnight struck we started birthday
celebration for Javier and the night was a lot of fun. <span abp="325" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p abp="326"></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="327">
<div abp="57">
<span abp="328" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<div abp="329" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="60">
<span abp="330"><span abp="62"><span abp="496"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="331" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The night after just before heading home to get an early
sleep we went to the beach which was supposedly a place to be in the evenings… And
there the real Koh Phi Phi opened its door to us welcoming us to a crazy night…
People were dancing everywhere along the beach, each of the bars played its own
music styles and offered a different atmosphere. But most of the crowds were
focused at the entrance, more explicitly where crazy fires games where –
burning ring, bar, jumping rope were the main attractions! I’ve never seen
something like that before </span><span abp="332" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="333" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="334" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> <o:p abp="335"></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="336">
<div abp="69">
<span abp="337" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<div abp="338" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="72">
<span abp="339" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span abp="340" style="color: white;">On Sunday the sun finally shined over the island, but for
us it was the time to leave… We enjoyed the various attractions Koh Phi Phi
offered to us and will certainly go back once again to appreciate the nature
wonders we would missed on this time. I was going back reflecting if the atmosphere
in all tourist places in Thailand is similar… Although I had a lot of fun I had
a feeling that I didn’t experience any real culture during the weekend. I was very
happy to return back “home”, where people were naturally friendly, the food was
spicy & delicious and my lunch costs less than one euro ;)</span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="341" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="76">
<span abp="342" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span abp="343" style="color: white;">A few pictures from the weekend:</span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="341" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="80">
<span abp="342" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span abp="82"></span></span><span abp="502"><span style="color: white;"> </span><a abp="855" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2A5etwgHFKuuqWkl0grhIXyUsHYx1ZGgrJD1_nTXE1etk7Dsk1txxyRm8xxWiBrck9DUxlQapUTXooLvEUpJhip8W0kWSu4WBibSt8JNKXXE3gi0etRZKwNI0bHhaGeZu4qEDPJh9kCQ/s1600/DSC06395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="856" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2A5etwgHFKuuqWkl0grhIXyUsHYx1ZGgrJD1_nTXE1etk7Dsk1txxyRm8xxWiBrck9DUxlQapUTXooLvEUpJhip8W0kWSu4WBibSt8JNKXXE3gi0etRZKwNI0bHhaGeZu4qEDPJh9kCQ/s1600/DSC06395.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></span></div>
<span abp="502"><div abp="857">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">The adventurers!</span></span></div>
<div abp="80">
<div abp="858" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="859" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1sq-XArvbs3bo3w4em1TfbHXZD-cnNCOJ2G0nQtNCojgb4ZmmVqu7DzyOU9HMrnXPAcR4u6fp4nEuprN_1e2XCRHAAdM-wOfijLoJ7LiR0At-QRIRv1KVb3eSAgFJt9W6S1DDIdvGHoT/s1600/DSC06422.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="860" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1sq-XArvbs3bo3w4em1TfbHXZD-cnNCOJ2G0nQtNCojgb4ZmmVqu7DzyOU9HMrnXPAcR4u6fp4nEuprN_1e2XCRHAAdM-wOfijLoJ7LiR0At-QRIRv1KVb3eSAgFJt9W6S1DDIdvGHoT/s1600/DSC06422.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div abp="861">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">View from my bungalow</span></span></div>
<div abp="80">
<div abp="862" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="863" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_IMQr6lDEgpYWvtP127eAW9NskbjCrTN3R_AV6IrTZQW1r0LwRbTB0BJ-gNlX3RQoi4qIGAJqs86gIhWbQGKR_7aWMnr8m0Tqwl_J9otWjjOom6CwvYDX5RzqLE2PAqZN7bo7ZHVOGwk/s1600/DSC06433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="864" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_IMQr6lDEgpYWvtP127eAW9NskbjCrTN3R_AV6IrTZQW1r0LwRbTB0BJ-gNlX3RQoi4qIGAJqs86gIhWbQGKR_7aWMnr8m0Tqwl_J9otWjjOom6CwvYDX5RzqLE2PAqZN7bo7ZHVOGwk/s1600/DSC06433.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div abp="865">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Koh Phi Phi pier on a windy morning</span></span></div>
<div abp="80">
<div abp="866" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="867" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIGXSz8NMMDB5y3vRh8PwonOqJ5XPtziO9NvLOuGgzzT2nilieFzqIEIAwkYm24Wus1-xKA83fOHDKP_tgvRNdMQ-BR-KIZT_PptKDVPtTg0DieXaMaqLGxakUH5t-WZPIyTBZ21UJJ1LE/s1600/DSC06436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="868" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIGXSz8NMMDB5y3vRh8PwonOqJ5XPtziO9NvLOuGgzzT2nilieFzqIEIAwkYm24Wus1-xKA83fOHDKP_tgvRNdMQ-BR-KIZT_PptKDVPtTg0DieXaMaqLGxakUH5t-WZPIyTBZ21UJJ1LE/s1600/DSC06436.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="869">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="870" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="871" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMOH8IMVLpwZvaphAwqvN3bJlN_Jtsu4XdfVvIeF9EtRDzR-INMQCElxgaQghyphenhyphenoGnAOklAGb7gkcrqTgd8B4qJFA98F3jXEO1iTBAhk0r32sP5sf_ah-KUFzk7W8ylg62nwTvWlAOqOhaL/s1600/DSC06443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="872" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMOH8IMVLpwZvaphAwqvN3bJlN_Jtsu4XdfVvIeF9EtRDzR-INMQCElxgaQghyphenhyphenoGnAOklAGb7gkcrqTgd8B4qJFA98F3jXEO1iTBAhk0r32sP5sf_ah-KUFzk7W8ylg62nwTvWlAOqOhaL/s1600/DSC06443.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div abp="873">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">The famous beach as we don't see it on postcards...</span></span></div>
<div abp="80">
<div abp="874" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="875" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0He11cDHIfssz5ajyVxknoFh1JiI6hp__w9R6V4N4OXzCXlIT3XodWFAcyF9dbgrBNYO6fAAwWv_JiY61uZ4obHaykKNyYrvIGnQOdoJjshXNu9gU3TobNWsyWnk-mnxfFArvN8b-vyH/s1600/DSC06463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="876" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0He11cDHIfssz5ajyVxknoFh1JiI6hp__w9R6V4N4OXzCXlIT3XodWFAcyF9dbgrBNYO6fAAwWv_JiY61uZ4obHaykKNyYrvIGnQOdoJjshXNu9gU3TobNWsyWnk-mnxfFArvN8b-vyH/s1600/DSC06463.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div abp="877">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Leaving the island </span></span></div>
<div abp="878" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="879" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9lnZAdBt3Kc6eE3BRa1-IUyQilX4UMBDQXMsckgrqSF_dCQz8AO3e01J8fenMPfCbr6aAktdO5ltHKlAJhlnXz_qN-uV0l8gYuGj5CXHXlzE6kHEUYGIT6tv0UXxvFfeAOEbaXsYdMRv/s1600/DSC06479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="880" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9lnZAdBt3Kc6eE3BRa1-IUyQilX4UMBDQXMsckgrqSF_dCQz8AO3e01J8fenMPfCbr6aAktdO5ltHKlAJhlnXz_qN-uV0l8gYuGj5CXHXlzE6kHEUYGIT6tv0UXxvFfeAOEbaXsYdMRv/s1600/DSC06479.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span></div>
<div abp="344" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="84">
<span abp="345" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span abp="86"></span></span><span abp="505" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="348">
<div abp="88">
<span abp="349" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-91285302567884959642013-12-02T05:20:00.001-08:002013-12-02T05:20:47.764-08:00Loi Kratong<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="144">
<span style="color: white;">
<b abp="146"><span abp="147" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The
festival of lights<o:p abp="148"></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div abp="149">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="149">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="150" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="151" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: white;">My come back “home” to the first host family after a
week away started with a very special celebration, namely with the Loi Kratong
festival night in Prasat. Similar event would take place in every town around
Thailand on the full moon night in November, when the moon is at its brightest.
<o:p abp="152"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="153">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="153">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="154" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="155" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">'Loi'
literally means 'to float,' while 'kratong' refers to the lotus-shaped
container which can float on the water. Originally, the kratong was made of
banana leaves or a spider lily plant. A kratong can contain food, nuts,
flowers, joss sticks, candle and coins. The loi kratong ritual is simple. You light
the candles and the joss sticks, make a wish and let it float away with the
current of a river or a canal. What makes it special is that thousands of
people will gather beside the canals and rivers to do the same creating a very
unique atmosphere. It is considered a romantic night for couples who would make
a wish together to stay happily in love in the future.<o:p abp="156"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="157">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="157">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="158" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="159" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Together
with Pim, Mint and a few of their friends we prepared the kratongs by ourselves
using banana leaves, flowers and candles. It was fun building the constructions
together and although mine was very simple I was proud to have it done from the
scratch </span><span abp="160" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="161" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="162" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">
When all of us were ready and it got dark outside we drove to Prasat. I’ve
never seen the place so crowded. The festival took place around a small artificial
lake – at the entrance was a mini amusement park and some bars with music and
on the other side I could see a big stage with dancers performing to the sound
of Thai music. In the middle of the lake – hundreds of kratongs were floating
creating a very romantic atmosphere. We found a spot at the riverbed, lit the
candles, thought a wish and let our kratongs float in the water. May the wish
come true!!!<o:p abp="163"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="164">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="164">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="165" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="166" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">As
we walked along the lake we passed by kratongs prepared by different schools in
Prasat – they were much bigger and so beautiful!!! The place looked wonderful
and full of magic. This was definitely one of the nights to be remembered.</span></span></div>
<div abp="167" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="168" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div abp="167" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="169" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="170" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">Below a few pictures from the preparations and the festival:</span></span></div>
<div abp="171" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="172" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="675" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="676" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfl-nwClsqyn5g93p2HgoS3WpVfBWrh9PO8o3NwcF9usxH9ayGuLZ-mTBhcjxzvLbsLAlsW7QDjzeEMwmPcA9oME2SwWlJ7Q1Kso81xhWVCDBzeiwRzJSdiO24PIpj7g0mJwyvfBzowotr/s1600/DSC06344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="677" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfl-nwClsqyn5g93p2HgoS3WpVfBWrh9PO8o3NwcF9usxH9ayGuLZ-mTBhcjxzvLbsLAlsW7QDjzeEMwmPcA9oME2SwWlJ7Q1Kso81xhWVCDBzeiwRzJSdiO24PIpj7g0mJwyvfBzowotr/s1600/DSC06344.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="678">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> The team :)</span></span></div>
<div abp="679" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="680" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPFyM_qN74WXSeZXR4jzRkD0Cjw2ZxM9qnyfeOn7-5lDzKXlgA-n68FXSSiLZgrN3jexqG8lKBGvvfS_fUcPBBU64P-CKf2JXH0dhyWJkG9CgWYCAn1Nz3D6EQ-97x765a379Zl24CD4v/s1600/DSC06349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="681" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPFyM_qN74WXSeZXR4jzRkD0Cjw2ZxM9qnyfeOn7-5lDzKXlgA-n68FXSSiLZgrN3jexqG8lKBGvvfS_fUcPBBU64P-CKf2JXH0dhyWJkG9CgWYCAn1Nz3D6EQ-97x765a379Zl24CD4v/s1600/DSC06349.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="682">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> Work in progress</span></span></div>
<div abp="683" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="684" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5-K50cVknkHMVAmJjJEPegOvdnLlRklbd2UxfrxCzJeKUU6USzbL-4GUSaIzzaUO6x_1u9RBFPExAcNZy0NL_XGT1tlg4BTFks486t8q3TdjLV6rQVApkHfWxCBD4tGVbX30OzP1TYwd/s1600/DSC06357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="685" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5-K50cVknkHMVAmJjJEPegOvdnLlRklbd2UxfrxCzJeKUU6USzbL-4GUSaIzzaUO6x_1u9RBFPExAcNZy0NL_XGT1tlg4BTFks486t8q3TdjLV6rQVApkHfWxCBD4tGVbX30OzP1TYwd/s1600/DSC06357.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="686">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> May my wish come true!</span></span></div>
<div abp="687" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="688" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcRE0HLjMwEj4NbC3HOTpjOkxUedL2E1jtkiHcY37o7MO7xbNHFC5w_8h1XI4EugX0MP45gMquQCQfl3r0p5xQGg-qaVIzS91pPsnk77j7kTpmDLz3ROXS39M431Nlv5aG8MGvT0vtv_t7/s1600/DSC06369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="689" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcRE0HLjMwEj4NbC3HOTpjOkxUedL2E1jtkiHcY37o7MO7xbNHFC5w_8h1XI4EugX0MP45gMquQCQfl3r0p5xQGg-qaVIzS91pPsnk77j7kTpmDLz3ROXS39M431Nlv5aG8MGvT0vtv_t7/s1600/DSC06369.JPG" height="253" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="690">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Kratongs prepared by students from Prasat schools</span></span></div>
<div abp="691" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="692" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisigW84K5DCi7E4LW4tuLkZlwOEyjyPKIAhbWVXnX0pA26ujeP8xCCVlUe62Ki8vQRDh5dHvugwU2me9zduGUEgCTWqg2vzrLRKMRS0pTWkBgVqeMcuEAN-YAmqpZul5ZCsmoxsjcgo77U/s1600/DSC06373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="693" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisigW84K5DCi7E4LW4tuLkZlwOEyjyPKIAhbWVXnX0pA26ujeP8xCCVlUe62Ki8vQRDh5dHvugwU2me9zduGUEgCTWqg2vzrLRKMRS0pTWkBgVqeMcuEAN-YAmqpZul5ZCsmoxsjcgo77U/s1600/DSC06373.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="694">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="695" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="696" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaPTuNwCCFpP6mFOXIzEWbxkqIK4bflV1So9IgJfrjBnLkeYnBzkctfoxCtKWy-BB-j5LGuo2PMcJBey5Q2Di3gGUS_6-spDXpEUBcUFgefWeUX3umX75osGOVTDk-N3PN7kWgx6YAlmjt/s1600/DSC06374.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="697" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaPTuNwCCFpP6mFOXIzEWbxkqIK4bflV1So9IgJfrjBnLkeYnBzkctfoxCtKWy-BB-j5LGuo2PMcJBey5Q2Di3gGUS_6-spDXpEUBcUFgefWeUX3umX75osGOVTDk-N3PN7kWgx6YAlmjt/s1600/DSC06374.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="698">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="699" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="700" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjmzjHJJZmklc-CkewWDzOtK6gY_8l5qkhYnSOsfdL3Oq-OvltW-7qTjevZBhQ6jQcUBB4Bq5yzW5IhTmCmH6RsmJyESBxnayP7q_ENVwKRYTVlpN1oj-5I0kXSRRw_CuugnPFxGWh_Tb/s1600/DSC06377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="701" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjmzjHJJZmklc-CkewWDzOtK6gY_8l5qkhYnSOsfdL3Oq-OvltW-7qTjevZBhQ6jQcUBB4Bq5yzW5IhTmCmH6RsmJyESBxnayP7q_ENVwKRYTVlpN1oj-5I0kXSRRw_CuugnPFxGWh_Tb/s1600/DSC06377.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="702">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="703" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="704" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejgtVqbJ7mJ0CVyR3LF-8nU3Aq4vlNZBJ2VCaPCEWEv9m0Og-vEaMiAfkiKwRytmJg52LlX77Cew5lq4WagNQ9JEZYpm3hvy0A-0j5f_kROIEaUzBaOAR56VUcwMsiErlItmvgRwlVbj3/s1600/DSC06379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="705" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejgtVqbJ7mJ0CVyR3LF-8nU3Aq4vlNZBJ2VCaPCEWEv9m0Og-vEaMiAfkiKwRytmJg52LlX77Cew5lq4WagNQ9JEZYpm3hvy0A-0j5f_kROIEaUzBaOAR56VUcwMsiErlItmvgRwlVbj3/s1600/DSC06379.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="706">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="707" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="177" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span abp="178" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p abp="179"><span abp="180" style="color: white; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div abp="181">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-11087056223949999852013-11-28T00:59:00.003-08:002013-11-28T00:59:42.911-08:00When elephants take over<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="1075">
<span style="color: white;">
<span abp="1076" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Every year during the third weekend of November the city
of Surin hosts very special guests. Around 300 elephants from all over the
country gather here for a weekend full of attractions and fun. I would never
imagine I’d see something like that in my life and I can bet that Surin is the
only place in the world where I can experience that. <o:p abp="1077"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="1078">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1079" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1080" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">The people of Surin were traditionally excellent at
capturing elephants in Cambodia and then training them as working animals.
Civil work in Cambodia and the elephant’s decreasing economic importance has
forced the elephant handlers (mahouts) to turn to entertainment to make a
living. The Surin Elephant Festival was first held in 1960. It consists of three
important events during three days:<o:p abp="1081"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="1082">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1082">
<span abp="1083"><span style="color: white;"></span></span> </div>
<div abp="1084" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><b abp="1085" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="1086" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Thursday
- Pre-opening evening ceremony where visitors can see trucks wonderfully
decorated by students from Surin. </span></b><span abp="1087" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></span></div>
<div abp="1084" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1087" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">A few days before the festival opening each school
prepares a project and decorates a truck with figures of elephants, traditional
Thai symbols as well as ASEAN community symbols. Materials mostly used are
fruits and vegetables handcrafted by students and school employees, which makes
the statues really unique and the compositions really amazing. Next to the
trucks during the evening visitors can also enjoy Thai fashion shows, dance
performances and Thai music. <o:p abp="1088"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="1089">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1090" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1091" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">I went to the event together with my host family from
Surin. You can see some of the pictures I took below:<o:p abp="1092"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="1093">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1094" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1095" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV51jsQJ7zoIBQlqVpdgT9gon-J08y742kA8-npOzdBVFpBjFmd7Rln9DYzcWM418aFyAkoRf_AlWAgEzErXxceqz7TVgMY7mpL_NlvVDcoY6fyjrY-vPFnXkW_0V6F9B7NnYtk5xgnVNe/s1600/DSC05987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1096" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV51jsQJ7zoIBQlqVpdgT9gon-J08y742kA8-npOzdBVFpBjFmd7Rln9DYzcWM418aFyAkoRf_AlWAgEzErXxceqz7TVgMY7mpL_NlvVDcoY6fyjrY-vPFnXkW_0V6F9B7NnYtk5xgnVNe/s1600/DSC05987.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1097">
<span abp="1098" style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">The construction by Pim's school was the most beautiful one. </span></div>
<div abp="1099" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: left; color: white; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1101" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirreVqvjIOKv_DSmL4vsvO3AwpbjoU1QTlFQ3vJxn_L3hrRui-F0HnMlqxlJ_0wkMGhIL5v5si_-rKgRxC2K1SmmERaoupqEPAAfmcye9-Mbb54WX1gp5q3BQ9RAoC9oxJYZ1MZqZde0f1/s1600/DSC06000.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="1102">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1103" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1104" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjTnXps0AGCAKG7qxA2RewyS4op3rkUgUuvjO2mBGZJZdJc0b7GRYjdAMsaMggXNZrn-p3PmK1mOTStMjbh9efa1bLIcyuVz1-FjXLzGcC3s1znA7OfpjHxDNXKMCLwTW6Ki7wdvk6YhsO/s1600/DSC06001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1105" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjTnXps0AGCAKG7qxA2RewyS4op3rkUgUuvjO2mBGZJZdJc0b7GRYjdAMsaMggXNZrn-p3PmK1mOTStMjbh9efa1bLIcyuVz1-FjXLzGcC3s1znA7OfpjHxDNXKMCLwTW6Ki7wdvk6YhsO/s1600/DSC06001.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1106">
<span abp="1107" style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Work of primary school of Pan. The picture in the background is her drawing - together with the whole family we were very proud of her :) </span></div>
<div abp="1108" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: left; color: white; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1110" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbmeHCJ9r82AQ7ChT0FBAZBfDEINVPHeuLOvA-cxEkWlvLlshV0T9Zp2RnQsg8Nrr9Dl2zKY2cibWrFP-R1SrKpwqQHqrucRzzwmf51vooYXn4GVCKCn-L6FPo0mgQ5giZLL9gzm2s4Y7/s1600/DSC06002.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="1111">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Pim & Pan :)</span></span></div>
<div abp="1112" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1113" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2DWu6mGJp99GvPPffOZ7IiXssorJt_tOXUqoMjbkAvepb6WfumMcq4Qx-YHX_Qk_uDykKZIQSlPCYFuWFSwjy6h__WT76rpuQCyaObTs_MPsq0pMrYzAIUzbMcFno1aHlSVHYn1Pwyiy/s1600/DSC06005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1114" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2DWu6mGJp99GvPPffOZ7IiXssorJt_tOXUqoMjbkAvepb6WfumMcq4Qx-YHX_Qk_uDykKZIQSlPCYFuWFSwjy6h__WT76rpuQCyaObTs_MPsq0pMrYzAIUzbMcFno1aHlSVHYn1Pwyiy/s1600/DSC06005.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1115">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="1116" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Amazing decorations mado of fruits and vegetables.</span></span></div>
<div abp="1117" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1118" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6emmcYWTf8GwbIkdNZ6-q531o-cLj8YPoDiiZDisPjXkgG21v_5Qz7NRrsRvTq314Fyy2UbmooHg6b1ZG1vpDdDRpSvu8j3PPQDdXP7Qkx6l2obh5bax60mC3guNqTL4VTf_ZYcYz4u99/s1600/DSC06006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1119" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6emmcYWTf8GwbIkdNZ6-q531o-cLj8YPoDiiZDisPjXkgG21v_5Qz7NRrsRvTq314Fyy2UbmooHg6b1ZG1vpDdDRpSvu8j3PPQDdXP7Qkx6l2obh5bax60mC3guNqTL4VTf_ZYcYz4u99/s1600/DSC06006.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1120">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="1121" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Elephant built from green beans.</span></span></div>
<div abp="1122" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: left; color: white; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1124" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKRi0UAZHeZHkQPyrxQrEVJ2m4qcyE8-f8SPRNWUG7mAiDwNTkBiw1G0AUr7K_LLg9sisDvYcoAo2lj9Vo-zkEsAMzgjtBvkj1ygwtcUc3bNURyVaFVPisdnG1YsTpBpA3uPrRA0BgSAiB/s1600/DSC06011.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="1125">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> Main ingredients: peas, corn, green beans. </span></span></div>
<div abp="1126" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1127" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe68mvOlDfp4TE0YGBs0wTA-aAVUiGAGkh9BBjalBlGvk0LjY-Xl87aQJfgwLSBU_6HNDGVi9A8cdVOHkaJ4Gdhvo_MGze4ggI9kuuV93qYso04qYZrC56he1GHEo6RPQbTRNiRCgVfE7-/s1600/DSC06066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1128" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe68mvOlDfp4TE0YGBs0wTA-aAVUiGAGkh9BBjalBlGvk0LjY-Xl87aQJfgwLSBU_6HNDGVi9A8cdVOHkaJ4Gdhvo_MGze4ggI9kuuV93qYso04qYZrC56he1GHEo6RPQbTRNiRCgVfE7-/s1600/DSC06066.JPG" height="268" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1129">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="1130" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Angel dance performers in beautiful clothing </span> </span></div>
<div abp="1131">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1132">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1133">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1134">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1135">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1136">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1137">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1138">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1139">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1140">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1141">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1142">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1143">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1144">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="1144">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="1144">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1145">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1146" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1147"><span style="color: white;">
<b abp="1148" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="1149" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Friday
- </span></b><b abp="1150" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="1151" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Elephant Buffet
</span></b></span></span></div>
<div abp="1152" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="1153" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A procession of
269 elephants starts marching through Surin city from the railway station area
toward the Elephant roundabout. The elephants carry dignitaries and also some
tourists. Some elephants carry mahouts in authentic battle outfits from the
Thai - Khmer - Laos battles. Together with the elephant procession you see
local school children and teachers in traditional dress, dancing and playing
music. Once all the elephants have arrived then the banquet can begin, the
tables of fruits are quickly cleared by the large team of elephants. What you
see around you look like scenes from a movie – wherever you look you see dozens
of elephants. It’s so surreal, but fantastic! Each of the visitors can feed
elephants with food prepared by the organizers and the animals cue like hungry
kids waiting for their portion at school canteen. Some of them choose to leave
the best snacks for the end and pass the watermelon and pineapple to their
guardians. After feeding the animals we took an elephant ride in the streets
nearby and got stuck in elephant traffic for a while!!! I swear that this
didn’t seem real </span><span abp="1154" lang="EN" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="1155" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="1156" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p abp="1157"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="1158">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1159" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1160" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;">With 269
elephants eating over 50 tons of food the Surin buffet was registered in the Guinness World Records as the
biggestelephant buffet in the world </span><a abp="1701" href="http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-3000/largest-elephant-buffet/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">(largest-elephant-buffet)</span></a><span style="color: white;">.</span></span><span abp="1161" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p abp="1162"></o:p></span></div>
<div abp="1163">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1164" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1165" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: white;">Some pictures
from this day are below:</span></span></div>
<div abp="1605" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1605" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1610" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-SPagLry9FfSHddE8P_Vha04RRpt5a8OXaXYq9u647wAzQFMfoFezfv1oOXoPuKtKmy530FRGj2DnVhFqe4DyfymoFJPHhgZSHfFgA15u8SbHOym_NUOviyrxgQtaLxCui1LgRQ_0T72/s1600/DSC06121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1611" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-SPagLry9FfSHddE8P_Vha04RRpt5a8OXaXYq9u647wAzQFMfoFezfv1oOXoPuKtKmy530FRGj2DnVhFqe4DyfymoFJPHhgZSHfFgA15u8SbHOym_NUOviyrxgQtaLxCui1LgRQ_0T72/s1600/DSC06121.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1612">
<span abp="1704" style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Jewelry</span></div>
<div abp="1613" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: left; color: white; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1615" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRoxxifyjpkzrlcq8tpXlLcXibT8hNpuFRxMGxd-hnGH3ZSV2mK1sCGRQgh5XepljvWTiLy6268jqpZKZBhEQq3MMKhg-eYC7MffWkujLiHuIrRpQocBKuyGPI3O1jQrnq_0MPUb-W7q4/s1600/DSC06122.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="1616">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">White elephant belonging to the king. Beautiful creature! </span></span></div>
<div abp="1617" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1618" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnNs5H-l1UtSlFSk-xXSXl6a7fRHIZMZ21QTCkbU-Zkn6vv1d6PaXRlOuNDbugEUhdj09shRw9fWt1wcwA0j3DQYEZVHzX-YT7tlqAOwhGA85A-63nnO2YeKZwsqy-85y88XkcxxGUbZP/s1600/DSC06136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1619" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnNs5H-l1UtSlFSk-xXSXl6a7fRHIZMZ21QTCkbU-Zkn6vv1d6PaXRlOuNDbugEUhdj09shRw9fWt1wcwA0j3DQYEZVHzX-YT7tlqAOwhGA85A-63nnO2YeKZwsqy-85y88XkcxxGUbZP/s1600/DSC06136.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1620">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="1705" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Baby elephants :)</span></span></div>
<div abp="1621" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1622" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYx4CczVoQeZ9PTv20gpitwdMubjdctxK4qjxZDg-l4e1unU4zeG18gFo45TWJGY5mKHqmV-BTO58aGkQdZry98923eKUGuhtUjiA-ZT67exoaVcOOG-iPcjjhaI6Y23ySkomJGf3UkTa/s1600/DSC06138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1623" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYx4CczVoQeZ9PTv20gpitwdMubjdctxK4qjxZDg-l4e1unU4zeG18gFo45TWJGY5mKHqmV-BTO58aGkQdZry98923eKUGuhtUjiA-ZT67exoaVcOOG-iPcjjhaI6Y23ySkomJGf3UkTa/s1600/DSC06138.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1624">
<span abp="1706" style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I'm getting ready to feed the animals.</span></div>
<div abp="1625" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1626" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-b2_e9muYsMBB2-wXLa9EGDjlL69QrHbo9-MqH3MQnQTP9VeyubsILsLoh5kMhQyiGYGLan_m6aQOJcSkJeygNV2_NFXRexi5o_P8tdejbiTxBHI0JyL_wbfAEAfNEiwXqJGWl9BmDpk/s1600/DSC06139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1627" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-b2_e9muYsMBB2-wXLa9EGDjlL69QrHbo9-MqH3MQnQTP9VeyubsILsLoh5kMhQyiGYGLan_m6aQOJcSkJeygNV2_NFXRexi5o_P8tdejbiTxBHI0JyL_wbfAEAfNEiwXqJGWl9BmDpk/s1600/DSC06139.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1628">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="1707" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Elephant buffet - only in Thailand!!!</span></span></div>
<div abp="1629" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: left; color: white; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1631" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3AgHMyUPj9ICc9oRaEQ8pQ2iB8P46NDSXhSKeWUNuNqQTL1QlT11-pkczLyA9HWQvx41sytwAiU5Z1bgqModQ79eljT-obdOPGBkr4V-bk0WpH5Fqw1qr-sdOjSQ2AE6xTyfBnbEiHhBO/s1600/DSC06158.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="1632">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1633" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: left; color: white; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="1635" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCYwe3BvSfNt0smXPyXm9b9-WmSWbCa4eglf00xkPJ9rCMHySs6fJN7xGyIIlT9ecsjChBK0PKLxln5Oep1sk3fdv5W_UB2b8QAvI51Dzde1So_xw5PDWlxkejkN2Ro0Y7hla9bX38-Zw/s1600/DSC06171.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="1636">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1637" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1638" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7lO9lJGn48-gY-fJyOauyuC__-ye57btZSUj66hZONPs7-RuwNeefjiVBcUhd-IjIYLAqY8xLhNt2QFCSz7Lri6fJ8W6yedODuleX0Ow09iPErk58uMS9-vx_4Gb6XS0IMHMdjEXfxcju/s1600/DSC06182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1639" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7lO9lJGn48-gY-fJyOauyuC__-ye57btZSUj66hZONPs7-RuwNeefjiVBcUhd-IjIYLAqY8xLhNt2QFCSz7Lri6fJ8W6yedODuleX0Ow09iPErk58uMS9-vx_4Gb6XS0IMHMdjEXfxcju/s1600/DSC06182.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1640">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="1708" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">The only elephant twins in the world!</span></span></div>
<div abp="1641" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1642" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3jAcleezjPdnaez3rz41ldNg_Yzh6TLhcs3rbqo8VJxHB9XxuTXZzWZlNQRTngG34n2Az0KIrCyqH4i8-_hvwPO4X_CXTLjLGizNdMV_YRsJgoR1rC7EDXxDRELmgi1Nika_nO-yrQR5/s1600/DSC06183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1643" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3jAcleezjPdnaez3rz41ldNg_Yzh6TLhcs3rbqo8VJxHB9XxuTXZzWZlNQRTngG34n2Az0KIrCyqH4i8-_hvwPO4X_CXTLjLGizNdMV_YRsJgoR1rC7EDXxDRELmgi1Nika_nO-yrQR5/s1600/DSC06183.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1167" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p abp="1170"><span style="color: white;">Traffic :) The elephants took over the city!</span></o:p></span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="1709" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><b abp="1710" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="1711" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saturday - </span></b><b abp="1712" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="1713" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Elephant
Round-Up – a series of shows displaying the strength and skills of the animals.</span></b><b abp="1714" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="1715" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p abp="1716"></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1717" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="1718" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The </span><span abp="1719" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">elephants and mahoots gather at the Elephant Stadium in
the south part of the city centre for a three hours show, during which the
visitors can see them performing battles from the past centuries, elephant
hunting, as well as elephants drawing, playing hola-hop, football, basketball
etc. It was an incredible performance showing how smart and playful the animals
are. The round-up finished with traditional Thai dances and presentation of 10
flags of countries which will be part of ASEAN community in 2015.<o:p abp="1720"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="2170" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2171" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsIjlrO5K7dAEmzHG-CLQnC4MgoHZagzd36wsefkcemKQOIEPv_aV-MkWeyRlqdH0XY-zJA2-CNc5bFzHqI83Sc6ToSTUxT636WtaO-cp1JtWPU7DOw8QYA1e6zctWj_PTivxBVPMwBU1/s1600/DSC06243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2172" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsIjlrO5K7dAEmzHG-CLQnC4MgoHZagzd36wsefkcemKQOIEPv_aV-MkWeyRlqdH0XY-zJA2-CNc5bFzHqI83Sc6ToSTUxT636WtaO-cp1JtWPU7DOw8QYA1e6zctWj_PTivxBVPMwBU1/s1600/DSC06243.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2173">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Welcome to Surin Round-Up</span></span></div>
<div abp="2174" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: left; color: white; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="2176" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeF25JRTLik4IXDBcV63MtJ2XAHCxNE7Cu9vA6SVdv6u59_-xTjQfBavL5GlwHCsQWNgQgbRkDJRAFmUApUxcqSBK6Gr2mEJjVnPmyoAJo38oruf-Mzc-nb79a8zxjkSUyv3RV0gBrJDg/s1600/DSC06247.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="2177">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Bowing down</span></div>
<div abp="2178" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2179" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9qha-lGUMock9A7fQdyYAXgz1oGBe1Um3wmxAuoxehCd-HEaCyRriEyyZyXcUaAnQ-b3BngFPQkKABM5SxqYSId2nCKFc40VyQ5Z0dc-d-WtfgPIH6I1J71b0k82rohm6rGTjyQGU4RN/s1600/DSC06252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2180" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9qha-lGUMock9A7fQdyYAXgz1oGBe1Um3wmxAuoxehCd-HEaCyRriEyyZyXcUaAnQ-b3BngFPQkKABM5SxqYSId2nCKFc40VyQ5Z0dc-d-WtfgPIH6I1J71b0k82rohm6rGTjyQGU4RN/s1600/DSC06252.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2181">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Holding tales</span></span></div>
<div abp="2182" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2183" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTvKwRHY3jG3Q3vaU47RZvla9gqLZGQc0YIjP_UrenX-FN9QfyHo2095pkzgqrNjrud5wFVZjywhAAk2jAIMqKUFxvDxHbtRHVYin4ecrHh9qSbaLcPYZlKOuQfogNkbPwgR9mShH_BCEL/s1600/DSC06255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2184" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTvKwRHY3jG3Q3vaU47RZvla9gqLZGQc0YIjP_UrenX-FN9QfyHo2095pkzgqrNjrud5wFVZjywhAAk2jAIMqKUFxvDxHbtRHVYin4ecrHh9qSbaLcPYZlKOuQfogNkbPwgR9mShH_BCEL/s1600/DSC06255.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2185">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Time to play!</span></span></div>
<div abp="2186" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2187" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmiZXUDUtPnFsIwNBD6au00D1546L3UvWMZcyvxzl3ks3aDPeRibYwbzNt-uSmp1lblDkquMUeUvxUgbr6NwNssLLpf_3swZtOhAsrYTyqJKqwhilRi1d2aGokMGWZ5BgoqM9zaShyphenhyphenLCk/s1600/DSC06262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2188" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmiZXUDUtPnFsIwNBD6au00D1546L3UvWMZcyvxzl3ks3aDPeRibYwbzNt-uSmp1lblDkquMUeUvxUgbr6NwNssLLpf_3swZtOhAsrYTyqJKqwhilRi1d2aGokMGWZ5BgoqM9zaShyphenhyphenLCk/s1600/DSC06262.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2189">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Animals walking over volunteers. Some jokers elephants were touching people on the ground to see if they weren't asleep :)</span></div>
<div abp="2190" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2191" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwREP0bOy5LBiW4QZ48Wctre-cgjkrDZKLfJpDk-ka_8CV70jmf-AY5AMSnEtMGaQEe0M9aXCCWOgOgMP0ksG2IR4ucSFz2klNtd8H3MSiTqFtg89heRDYmhtRolMDKxYbgmCaVvKACe4/s1600/DSC06269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2192" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwREP0bOy5LBiW4QZ48Wctre-cgjkrDZKLfJpDk-ka_8CV70jmf-AY5AMSnEtMGaQEe0M9aXCCWOgOgMP0ksG2IR4ucSFz2klNtd8H3MSiTqFtg89heRDYmhtRolMDKxYbgmCaVvKACe4/s1600/DSC06269.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2193">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">No matter how many people were on the other side - the elephant always won.</span></div>
<div abp="2194" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2195" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgom8fcyOv3NSsqqAXqJymD3jyVF3GHjw7JC4b9E8wwWnIyItbMHxUxPnUuIt4twYEBeFira9Egj2py3MthVhiGDmMT9tyuGHLYlRNRbnfzifTV5fCKjPR8daQ0MYqKXMyS5hrNp1ojcKgJ/s1600/DSC06276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2196" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgom8fcyOv3NSsqqAXqJymD3jyVF3GHjw7JC4b9E8wwWnIyItbMHxUxPnUuIt4twYEBeFira9Egj2py3MthVhiGDmMT9tyuGHLYlRNRbnfzifTV5fCKjPR8daQ0MYqKXMyS5hrNp1ojcKgJ/s1600/DSC06276.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2296" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2297" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsasMsm6QUlRooHHnEvTD5e-n2SXA2ptKIUK_qkUARXtIUaML2qhadGL7JdBLQ-yFIZTpdPI98tNSDmxFQ7IzM7iAYf3N0uGlj2uKHXUbyf9ZRvvsqVghwmSm0Iyq1hVEDApmzggNfueZ/s1600/DSC06319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2298" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsasMsm6QUlRooHHnEvTD5e-n2SXA2ptKIUK_qkUARXtIUaML2qhadGL7JdBLQ-yFIZTpdPI98tNSDmxFQ7IzM7iAYf3N0uGlj2uKHXUbyf9ZRvvsqVghwmSm0Iyq1hVEDApmzggNfueZ/s1600/DSC06319.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">In clothing used in the past during war time.</span></span></div>
<div abp="1166" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1171">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1172">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1173">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-88212963170964167462013-11-19T22:51:00.001-08:002013-11-19T23:13:22.751-08:00Ban Tamor School - not only the students learned something<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="2712" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="2713" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">Usually each volunteer is assigned to one high school
during their stay in Thailand, but my second week here was a holiday at the
school where I was teaching. It is a rice harvest season in the region and
Saikeaw School closes down for practical reasons - most children need to help
their parents during this time, so they wouldn’t be able to attend the lessons
anyway. As the demand for foreign teachers is very high the organizers decided
that I can help teaching in another school during that week. So on Sunday night
straight from the trip to Ubon I went to meet my new host family. The Mother
(the English teacher) is around 50 years old and has two young daughters – Pim
(17) and Pan (12). They gave me a very nice welcome – the three of them speak
English quite ok, so we can communicate. The father of the family, on the
contrary, said maybe one word to me during my 5 days there, but still he was
helpful so I can’t complain. ;) They live in a small house, but my stay there
was comfortable – I had my own room with big bed and air-conditioning. The
bathroom was quite funny, as it was of a size of a toilet and had a short
shower-alike thing, which could as well be used to fill up the basket with
water (a must-be in every Thai toilet). Anyway, since the cold water doesn’t
support long showers it wasn’t a big problem for me.<o:p abp="2714"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2715" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2716" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2717" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b abp="2718" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="2719" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">Family
routine<o:p abp="2720"></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div abp="2721" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="2722" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">My host family was a very busy family. Both the Mother
and the Father work for Ban Tamor School, where I volunteered. The school will
be subject to a government evaluation at the end of the month, so all resources
are focused these days on improvements – starting from cleaning, painting,
renovating, decorating, through paper work and completion of some projects to
evaluation of students to show the good quality of the teaching. The English
teacher received an additional assignment to manage the preparation process to
this evaluation, so she stayed long hours at school (every day from 8am until
6pm) and English class wasn’t her priority at all. <o:p abp="2723"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2724" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2725" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2726" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">The Father was a physical education teacher, but these
days he was busy with everything related to the evaluation. After the classes
finished he played football with students until 6pm. <o:p abp="2727"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2728" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="2729" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The older daughter Pim was 17 years old and was in her
last year of high school. She is planning to study Chinese to become a Chinese
teacher in the future. She’s very smart and funny, we had nice time together
chatting about life in Poland, Europe and Thailand. She is a big fun of British
accent and sense of humor (read: British men) and uniforms – even if totally
different age and culture we have something in common ;-) Her dream is to go to
Europe to see snow. I hope she’ll be able to do this and will visit me during
her trip! Pim knows how to dance Thai dance and she showed me a few moves – my
favourite dance is so called “angel dance”. Below is link to a short video of the dance
from the opening of elephant weekend in Surin:</span></div>
<div abp="2728" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2728" style="text-align: justify;">
<a abp="3122" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm_1fJMVvhI&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Angel dance @ Surin Elephant Festival</span></a></div>
<div abp="2728" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2728" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="2736" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The younger daughter Pan is 12 years old and she is a
born comedian. She likes to be in the center of attention and says always what
she thinks. I had a lot of fun with both of the girls </span><span abp="2737" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="2738" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="2739" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> Pan is very talented in
drawing – this month she’s drawing every day after school, as she prepares for
a competition. We visited her once to pick her up and I could see some of her
really nice drawings:</span></span></div>
<div abp="2728" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2740" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a abp="2741" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnwLHb2NmpnISFUWWQbViGuyMNprn38TlzVJdooMHdVTeuXwBxOscHAMMaob55Ss9bLOHhGaeo8oHYDtXnx6PBrtRCRFHiwtB8FlSAOOZc1YdvkMSle3IHm9NDT_kDy-8Vjw8w1ba5i1C0/s1600/DSC05876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2742" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnwLHb2NmpnISFUWWQbViGuyMNprn38TlzVJdooMHdVTeuXwBxOscHAMMaob55Ss9bLOHhGaeo8oHYDtXnx6PBrtRCRFHiwtB8FlSAOOZc1YdvkMSle3IHm9NDT_kDy-8Vjw8w1ba5i1C0/s1600/DSC05876.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2743" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2744" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a abp="2745" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHuN_Ccj01RU2CR0W-nJNdJ6jLiPLJrE7r_Y0YUqGtSxi-dh8E5q4KkG9xLFuBa1ZCBH-1HOFZkQWphMY1eUmnW_Oe_L96Jr_YuakMixAXK9yUtg_-4w2BtYZDHufjZYYElt22iuannGr/s1600/DSC05877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2746" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHuN_Ccj01RU2CR0W-nJNdJ6jLiPLJrE7r_Y0YUqGtSxi-dh8E5q4KkG9xLFuBa1ZCBH-1HOFZkQWphMY1eUmnW_Oe_L96Jr_YuakMixAXK9yUtg_-4w2BtYZDHufjZYYElt22iuannGr/s1600/DSC05877.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2747" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2748" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a abp="2749" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRnV3uEmMIwf4x_ohamwFuYRRZcdJeK2AhLh2hzVMRNpTMqroo6fjQ_wzoH94u0giK2gzDtiUNDOkilZpNBgCENwBz2IttkzTkRLC2SK9xT2fPyty5q8cw1eSpI3ozuuKgYCvJB_KY3Ebq/s1600/DSC05878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2750" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRnV3uEmMIwf4x_ohamwFuYRRZcdJeK2AhLh2hzVMRNpTMqroo6fjQ_wzoH94u0giK2gzDtiUNDOkilZpNBgCENwBz2IttkzTkRLC2SK9xT2fPyty5q8cw1eSpI3ozuuKgYCvJB_KY3Ebq/s1600/DSC05878.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2751" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2752" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2753" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="2754" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">She was also so sweet to draw a farewell picture for me,
which I simply loved! </span><span abp="2755" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="2756" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="2757" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> So
in eyes of a young Thai artist I look like this:</span></span></div>
<div abp="2758" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2759" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a abp="2760" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ngLFnJSCRPn1lMvVgtemN_fDss9wIshisbZPBZN5S906NYzV0_qucW8R9ieQ9wAKkGL4VZlzNGw6jvGi0p6P1O0NwEJQuTK2Ss_Rup5yYn6XaWsd72X1OyTiKGUQNNiIJADy5_XtdRBd/s1600/photo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2761" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ngLFnJSCRPn1lMvVgtemN_fDss9wIshisbZPBZN5S906NYzV0_qucW8R9ieQ9wAKkGL4VZlzNGw6jvGi0p6P1O0NwEJQuTK2Ss_Rup5yYn6XaWsd72X1OyTiKGUQNNiIJADy5_XtdRBd/s1600/photo.png" height="320" width="250" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2762" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2763" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2764" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">Do you see a lot of similarities? ;-)<o:p abp="2765"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2766" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2767" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b abp="2768" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="2769" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">School
routine<o:p abp="2770"></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div abp="2771" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="2772" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">On my first day at school the English teacher told me 5
minutes before the lessons that she hasn’t prepared any program for today. As a
result I had to improvise for 3 hours with kids who barely understood English…
It was quite challenging because as a perfectionist I wasn’t happy to “just try
to make the children busy” during the one hour class. I really wanted them to
connect and work together with me. I managed with some of her help, but I
promised to myself that I’ll be better prepared for next time. So since I had
to teach the class on my own I decided that there is no need to follow the book
for a week and I will to boost their speaking skills. I prepared some materials
for the kids to have the necessary vocabulary and know the meaning of the words
without the need of explaining in Thai (God bless pictionaries!) and the next
days were much easier and much more fun! Ban Tamor is a small school (200
students including primary school and secondary school) and I only taught 4
groups of students. Thanks to this I had a chance to get to know them quite
fast as I saw each group almost daily. Most of the groups were smart and I
could teach the complete class in English, but for some of them I needed the
teacher with me to translate into Thai. I taught the students about free time
activities and physical appearance – usually we repeated the pronunciation
together and afterwards they spoke in groups or individually. Thai people are
not used to individual work and they are very shy to speak in front of the
class. During the first hours together whenever I asked someone to speak they
reacted with panic or laughter one at another, but with time and my trials to
make them feel comfortable and appreciated they were more talkative and open. I
loved to see their efforts and interest in the subject - that really gave me a
lot of energy to do my work!!! I realized that I really love to inspire them -
share my knowledge, my energy… and if they answer back with the interest and
enthusiasm it brings me a lot of satisfaction and further motivation! <o:p abp="2773"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2774" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2775" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="2776" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Reading what I just wrote reminds me about a coaching
training which I attended a few months ago at work. Out of four personality
types (director = red type, observer = blue type, inspirer = yellow type,
helper = green type) I was an <b abp="2777" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“inspirer”</b>
- someone who is very positive, appreciates group work and group thinking and
loves to inspire other people. Before coming here I related this description
with my energy which I usually like to spread around. I never actually thought
that I would be a good teacher, because I’m impatient, but I figured that this
is a different type of impatience. I can’t stand traffic or can’t stand when
people are late for too long, because I just don’t like wasting time… I learned
that in the class I can be very patient and try to do my best for some slower
students to follow the rest. And I want them to understand, not to repeat… I
love sharing my knowledge and working with groups of people </span><span abp="2778" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="2779" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="2780" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> So I learned a lot about
myself too.<o:p abp="2781"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2782" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2783" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2784" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b abp="2785" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="2786" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">Students’
obligations<o:p abp="2787"></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div abp="2788" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="2789" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">I wanted to share with you something special about Ban
Tamor school. Next to gaining knowledge typical for primary & high school
the purpose of this place is to teach its students how to be responsible,
respectful and how to take care of others. In order to achieve that students
are involved in additional activities during the day. Before morning ceremony
they sweep floors, rake leaves and clean the school premises. They sometimes go
out to buy some ingredients for lunch from shops nearby. During the lunch break
they distribute food to each other. There are three stands – with soup, rice
and desserts – where everyone can be served with their preferred food. Once the
food is distributed the students seat on the floor on the canteen in circles
according to their age. They usually share the soups and main dishes among each
other (they keep 2-3 plates in the middle) and keep one plate of rice for each
of them. The lunch starts with a prayer. The students ‘in charge’ of the food
stands serve also food to teachers – on the only table in the canteen. Once the
meal is finished you bring the dishes outside – to a place with a few tables
and bowls with water, where everyone washes the dishes after themselves. Next
to that place is a small garden, where students and teachers grow some
vegetables for the canteen. In the afternoon in their free time boys help other
teachers fixing whatever needs to be fixed around the school (door, tables etc.)
and girls prepare decorations for class rooms. After school the teachers and
students interested in sports gather to play football or practice Thai boxing. A
cook during lunch hours becomes Thai boxing teacher after work. They all need
each other. They are like one big family caring about each other and contributing
to their daily routines with whatever they can bring at their age. I saw once
two little girls (probably beginning of primary school) carrying together one
big box, they stopped every once in a while to recover the energy, but they
didn’t give up… <o:p abp="2790"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2791" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2792" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2793" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">The first time I noticed this practice at school I had
mixed feelings. I thought that they use the kids to do work for which the
school should hire someone… But after overcoming the judgment from European
point of view I realized that this is normal for these kids and that they really
behave in a responsible and caring manner. They take some time a week to
participate in the school activities, but for the rest of their time they are
just normal children, who can play and have fun with their friends. I really
believe that if you are raised to be responsible you realize and appreciate more
what you have. We hear so much these days about teenagers being totally spoiled
and disrespectful to their parents and elder people. This is in my opinion
consequence of raising children in an environment free of responsibilities and
stress. They grow ensured that they are the center of the world and deserve best
things in life without caring about anyone else but themselves…<span abp="2794" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might disagree, but I think Europeans
could learn something from this school.<o:p abp="2795"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2796" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div abp="2797" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2798" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Below are some pictures showing school activities and
some of my lessons:</span></div>
<div abp="2799">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2800" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2801" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXcbh8JRn-RF66YQ-CJV980GWUHwU26YCsSoShuVVTAZFYxdRoS-Ge7jt3j1e87hoTLfjmdrdlqxMQY0rW068DW45L8nWBIKGl_8cZnBDtVicdvoIboHRClzp0qUsJTCErJdQeVkYxNQE/s1600/DSC05891.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2802" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXcbh8JRn-RF66YQ-CJV980GWUHwU26YCsSoShuVVTAZFYxdRoS-Ge7jt3j1e87hoTLfjmdrdlqxMQY0rW068DW45L8nWBIKGl_8cZnBDtVicdvoIboHRClzp0qUsJTCErJdQeVkYxNQE/s1600/DSC05891.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a><span abp="2803" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div abp="2804">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2805" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Brushing teeth after lunch.</span></span></div>
<div abp="2806" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2807" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAEcUAGijNkjwdRC8hTxbusCs8gFuxKVdejCD8U_6dgtDgpB7xfmIFFgpednHdumeqJRAxsT6xXMxnymFvatAGY5awNagi_6Q1l39ZLJUeGP_5fhMkkk5QyIxJbdpCImMO4e91i3myIi3/s1600/DSC05892.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2808" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAEcUAGijNkjwdRC8hTxbusCs8gFuxKVdejCD8U_6dgtDgpB7xfmIFFgpednHdumeqJRAxsT6xXMxnymFvatAGY5awNagi_6Q1l39ZLJUeGP_5fhMkkk5QyIxJbdpCImMO4e91i3myIi3/s1600/DSC05892.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2809">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2810" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Teachers washing dishes.</span></span></div>
<div abp="2811" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2812" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFnU5MO7afBr3EvluOssHFxGlfEF8y0ksGitcHYulHLJLNWy5xl3V9pefB8fypunM4L1pfTVfrvKxCkFH_oY4FRoQI2CEFcFI0ph4DgVillsEvGnIucyZGV76OlCBkdjy4G10miTG8z7d/s1600/DSC05898.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2813" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFnU5MO7afBr3EvluOssHFxGlfEF8y0ksGitcHYulHLJLNWy5xl3V9pefB8fypunM4L1pfTVfrvKxCkFH_oY4FRoQI2CEFcFI0ph4DgVillsEvGnIucyZGV76OlCBkdjy4G10miTG8z7d/s1600/DSC05898.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2814">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2815" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Thai boxing in the afternoon with the cook/trainer</span></span></div>
<div abp="2816" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2817" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVJO-itrCdF9Hg4LGSvSrcB-KDJ_As4wErkEUAhiJ-xnRZx60f8wE-oven9tRMhNjbI6k2_zV1D9J6pihksk2UXYiWU5CWGxkFt6A9RjOHePbfxyBGhHn6Z-Q-RxKpt_DYOY_L-XCoV6bu/s1600/DSC05928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2818" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVJO-itrCdF9Hg4LGSvSrcB-KDJ_As4wErkEUAhiJ-xnRZx60f8wE-oven9tRMhNjbI6k2_zV1D9J6pihksk2UXYiWU5CWGxkFt6A9RjOHePbfxyBGhHn6Z-Q-RxKpt_DYOY_L-XCoV6bu/s1600/DSC05928.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2819">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2820" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Very colorful school premises</span></span></div>
<div abp="2821" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2822" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvSPU-yi65Rx6dpJjUTOt_NMH14MJ4HZ-7ZpT2ErgwBRtT3uoeiWviG6VkKIOnbTXLRkN3Nl68ZzVztq4Sn8wyUCYseiFG1a_wXYnVkeLUWuW-hr8BdYnhdF1VrtgiRQdB2ktZeqXv5T2/s1600/DSC05929.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2823" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvSPU-yi65Rx6dpJjUTOt_NMH14MJ4HZ-7ZpT2ErgwBRtT3uoeiWviG6VkKIOnbTXLRkN3Nl68ZzVztq4Sn8wyUCYseiFG1a_wXYnVkeLUWuW-hr8BdYnhdF1VrtgiRQdB2ktZeqXv5T2/s1600/DSC05929.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2824">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2825" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">The English class</span></span></div>
<div abp="2826" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2828" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_haRBygEIOXWR_JOt1jjA8udVa_avLsuSUR6H6fbCsu8ohqdX4X3YogLWEAWlzmJo404RHDYVxggtkdg-ag4H1XlON5puPOtGSaKSx1lXoBXUkctHS0tT_BWJSeZUVlZrNTo4eqq4oikp/s1600/DSC05931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; height: 243px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 321px;"><span style="color: white;"></span></a><br /></div>
<a abp="2828" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_haRBygEIOXWR_JOt1jjA8udVa_avLsuSUR6H6fbCsu8ohqdX4X3YogLWEAWlzmJo404RHDYVxggtkdg-ag4H1XlON5puPOtGSaKSx1lXoBXUkctHS0tT_BWJSeZUVlZrNTo4eqq4oikp/s1600/DSC05931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; height: 243px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 321px;"><span style="color: white;"></span></a><br />
<a abp="2828" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_haRBygEIOXWR_JOt1jjA8udVa_avLsuSUR6H6fbCsu8ohqdX4X3YogLWEAWlzmJo404RHDYVxggtkdg-ag4H1XlON5puPOtGSaKSx1lXoBXUkctHS0tT_BWJSeZUVlZrNTo4eqq4oikp/s1600/DSC05931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; height: 243px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 321px;"><span style="color: white;"></span></a><br />
<a abp="2828" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_haRBygEIOXWR_JOt1jjA8udVa_avLsuSUR6H6fbCsu8ohqdX4X3YogLWEAWlzmJo404RHDYVxggtkdg-ag4H1XlON5puPOtGSaKSx1lXoBXUkctHS0tT_BWJSeZUVlZrNTo4eqq4oikp/s1600/DSC05931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; height: 243px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 321px;"><div abp="2829">
<span style="color: white;"><img abp="2830" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_haRBygEIOXWR_JOt1jjA8udVa_avLsuSUR6H6fbCsu8ohqdX4X3YogLWEAWlzmJo404RHDYVxggtkdg-ag4H1XlON5puPOtGSaKSx1lXoBXUkctHS0tT_BWJSeZUVlZrNTo4eqq4oikp/s1600/DSC05931.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="2831">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="2831">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="2832">
<span abp="2833" style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">uring my lessonsDuring my lessons</span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span></a><span style="color: white;"></span><br />
<div abp="2834">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div abp="2835" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2836" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGZcAOvdudzdmOqSci8aRAbw9a7_PA-ib3E3Lhyphenhyphen7uFsopJ1EX-l_RcMEvs8NhjkA2VDpEKmTlvzo4ycEuUCMO2p6ymzbPwahPtTw0fpOX9Nh4jJWSdm3K7va_rmmdiZS44Cm4kFmRSDQJW/s1600/DSC05932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2837" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGZcAOvdudzdmOqSci8aRAbw9a7_PA-ib3E3Lhyphenhyphen7uFsopJ1EX-l_RcMEvs8NhjkA2VDpEKmTlvzo4ycEuUCMO2p6ymzbPwahPtTw0fpOX9Nh4jJWSdm3K7va_rmmdiZS44Cm4kFmRSDQJW/s1600/DSC05932.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2838">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2839">
<span abp="2840" style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">My last lesson in Ban Tamor school</span></div>
<div abp="2841" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2842" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KMgMwCCmivLr6pQ7p2XL9E98GJ8MhCTeyX9sl_CSAmgYA7upt-1WaPH_tWARbM8s1o2hAduHCyQyfRJJ6DCpIOZOfE5B9_0ZjXrouhPs9xXGqv74RbwjnHtJV3L-ituiSako-ru1WKla/s1600/DSC05934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2843" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KMgMwCCmivLr6pQ7p2XL9E98GJ8MhCTeyX9sl_CSAmgYA7upt-1WaPH_tWARbM8s1o2hAduHCyQyfRJJ6DCpIOZOfE5B9_0ZjXrouhPs9xXGqv74RbwjnHtJV3L-ituiSako-ru1WKla/s1600/DSC05934.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2844">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="3124" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Together with students</span></span></div>
<div abp="2845" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2846" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFZcwb4nPSII4bqfXQe-JuLe3qwP5cgDk7L59TO7vqU8AXMQbENZgBaACRlHLqtQOltYaF9Q7g5CXdMLteKK8ErTeUgR1NTsF6IlZJOAXF_Kut84aJ1PfGguHms2ksX8CWrWHKNXfNx5p/s1600/DSC05972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2847" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFZcwb4nPSII4bqfXQe-JuLe3qwP5cgDk7L59TO7vqU8AXMQbENZgBaACRlHLqtQOltYaF9Q7g5CXdMLteKK8ErTeUgR1NTsF6IlZJOAXF_Kut84aJ1PfGguHms2ksX8CWrWHKNXfNx5p/s1600/DSC05972.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2848">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2849" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Cooking class with students - we prepared a delicious massaman curry</span></span></div>
<div abp="2850" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2851" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHj0dC488ryYL7-EzV8BB4hZkWmwKwS7rITCgEtpA6L_4x6oRejFmLx1ccN1Ugt0mmB55ST5CQlGZEs1W6_iLZjw6WHv6tbCYT9Iz_GE7W1B_U6yKUt3aClICRl125miy5tHVQ_p9XmJYH/s1600/DSC05974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2852" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHj0dC488ryYL7-EzV8BB4hZkWmwKwS7rITCgEtpA6L_4x6oRejFmLx1ccN1Ugt0mmB55ST5CQlGZEs1W6_iLZjw6WHv6tbCYT9Iz_GE7W1B_U6yKUt3aClICRl125miy5tHVQ_p9XmJYH/s1600/DSC05974.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2853">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2854" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> The cooking team & their English teacher</span></span></div>
<div abp="2855" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2856" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_G73i8D7fsdNJcqBbWOs3UBEObIzPdB9zsg-Xjt7NN-pK7RY5RGAw8UUUfzJ7O0EzCvbVNFD5M05v3cTC8Hpa01rwKfibxO2ePoHzFS28zzEob0BEevPXqrfEXXP8Upk7MoFKsTUuDe3/s1600/P1000343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2857" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_G73i8D7fsdNJcqBbWOs3UBEObIzPdB9zsg-Xjt7NN-pK7RY5RGAw8UUUfzJ7O0EzCvbVNFD5M05v3cTC8Hpa01rwKfibxO2ePoHzFS28zzEob0BEevPXqrfEXXP8Upk7MoFKsTUuDe3/s1600/P1000343.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2858">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2859" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Morning activities - boys</span></span></div>
<div abp="2860" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2861" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstKESDJzvQmf0ef-qpUOhjb0au65nnNVaBVpjJc3hrTRtUN2o9MU8LtM8db3FfdoBQEmXtwDIVYoCgvwlbY2qvQYdKYdlR5uZKECko-qKbmd_2D_9vpeWjcfUICf1Pi25uirb3ZSJ8QvW/s1600/P1000344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2862" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstKESDJzvQmf0ef-qpUOhjb0au65nnNVaBVpjJc3hrTRtUN2o9MU8LtM8db3FfdoBQEmXtwDIVYoCgvwlbY2qvQYdKYdlR5uZKECko-qKbmd_2D_9vpeWjcfUICf1Pi25uirb3ZSJ8QvW/s1600/P1000344.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2863">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2864" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Morning activities - girls</span></span></div>
<div abp="2865" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2866" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0scVNMzHGAe055RSaP-CSP6rlHYWOsx0jwDvabR6vLB_U4aSF4d-bRcCo7uRKT5Wk2n_6EegFRBm5Ez4qqHBNkC4oaq0_0_mTIwjSD2hg4evEmawRpd2t_Dle6jN3XTL1gjbr-xrgTq8I/s1600/P1000387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2867" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0scVNMzHGAe055RSaP-CSP6rlHYWOsx0jwDvabR6vLB_U4aSF4d-bRcCo7uRKT5Wk2n_6EegFRBm5Ez4qqHBNkC4oaq0_0_mTIwjSD2hg4evEmawRpd2t_Dle6jN3XTL1gjbr-xrgTq8I/s1600/P1000387.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2868">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2869" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Gardening</span></span></div>
<div abp="2870" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2871" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpQMT0910zY-39B49kX0mYeM5kRrHNCLqglzNAIb44pRlyLnaaRuVs9sAD26kcmYjVsqoHKAYClFpy1I_Dc_1MELVczfdZQ5gQWS2oMsnqlm09-u5Kxi2jESIfE6Od4W7XekdqTwcrLvHN/s1600/P1000388.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2872" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpQMT0910zY-39B49kX0mYeM5kRrHNCLqglzNAIb44pRlyLnaaRuVs9sAD26kcmYjVsqoHKAYClFpy1I_Dc_1MELVczfdZQ5gQWS2oMsnqlm09-u5Kxi2jESIfE6Od4W7XekdqTwcrLvHN/s1600/P1000388.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2873">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2874" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Gardening</span></span></div>
<div abp="2875" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2876" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZ4I_ZPHwP9GcnSYd5cWINly0ckm3w9zH69CTQvMtUeQP5AuqLoVCYLiQTbv36qTclA82QNbh6oq7-lYhapYqrR4VvDNII0VfXEqEZ1BX4e6kqHt6UAbxMeWooRBWmMXQZzbjloMuGI4f/s1600/P1000461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2877" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZ4I_ZPHwP9GcnSYd5cWINly0ckm3w9zH69CTQvMtUeQP5AuqLoVCYLiQTbv36qTclA82QNbh6oq7-lYhapYqrR4VvDNII0VfXEqEZ1BX4e6kqHt6UAbxMeWooRBWmMXQZzbjloMuGI4f/s1600/P1000461.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2878">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2879" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2880" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACSuTIXDx4V7bTBaMz6ivBqsMu0f7YcVJzlCBK1NwFtNynz-64aK8Mxw7ZSJrww_X0f73ZdkwdAJCuXOnzftQJFmbxT3wBKnzL4xbZM9JxJ0V6ikfuLrjRDEDRGXJILkZx3eO0wFdjO4q/s1600/P1000463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2881" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACSuTIXDx4V7bTBaMz6ivBqsMu0f7YcVJzlCBK1NwFtNynz-64aK8Mxw7ZSJrww_X0f73ZdkwdAJCuXOnzftQJFmbxT3wBKnzL4xbZM9JxJ0V6ikfuLrjRDEDRGXJILkZx3eO0wFdjO4q/s1600/P1000463.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2882">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2883" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I'm helping to distribute the soup during lunch break</span></span></div>
<div abp="2884" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2885" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtx-VNDVFyj7ohyCT9ZUfPoNx4lw2XDFkwU7WGReeoqptv5XsjCMVw83arvcY3u5Y6B5vP9rMB5LI6H1GY0awUhMcIOvLVS4mOn_t3FsJGxKsmp7PfpyyvDQnU41_QImPjVd8izsohCxtK/s1600/P1000464.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2886" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtx-VNDVFyj7ohyCT9ZUfPoNx4lw2XDFkwU7WGReeoqptv5XsjCMVw83arvcY3u5Y6B5vP9rMB5LI6H1GY0awUhMcIOvLVS4mOn_t3FsJGxKsmp7PfpyyvDQnU41_QImPjVd8izsohCxtK/s1600/P1000464.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2887">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2888" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2889" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkDTxVnfn2YIMafkufAmyBDMmtepjGUdI-mL4NVj3oAZLUjF3FjUrL3hVaFmjtdZIuZVGqrcI26UkCSEtNhBwLZkDud1rjvoPsRzbZZUJHBzQkyVaAI6d9zKFmzMTkj0J5PKEyFG_XuK8Y/s1600/P1000466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2890" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkDTxVnfn2YIMafkufAmyBDMmtepjGUdI-mL4NVj3oAZLUjF3FjUrL3hVaFmjtdZIuZVGqrcI26UkCSEtNhBwLZkDud1rjvoPsRzbZZUJHBzQkyVaAI6d9zKFmzMTkj0J5PKEyFG_XuK8Y/s1600/P1000466.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2891">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2892" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Students praying before eating lunch</span></span></div>
<div abp="2893" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2894" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ce8IfSnhHkl71RjxpaMaKYL75BVJooeO5fiQrYUiQbqRcxDcs64WAkCkqQzQLP8fSh_DRVwxiWi3ginOl5Bg8Jl56NjViyMpxJJ_wDyOAuNLfO7ojrNQylfnJi_Ri1EckQXQTu1gErcv/s1600/P1000469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2895" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ce8IfSnhHkl71RjxpaMaKYL75BVJooeO5fiQrYUiQbqRcxDcs64WAkCkqQzQLP8fSh_DRVwxiWi3ginOl5Bg8Jl56NjViyMpxJJ_wDyOAuNLfO7ojrNQylfnJi_Ri1EckQXQTu1gErcv/s1600/P1000469.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2896">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2897" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Rice for everyone</span></span></div>
<div abp="2898" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2899" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92SUtgyUjP70GbiTyEj_T28n1L5LDKKx6WgbgjG32WYHFcjYMi2q2Mn-dNHUjQYMIbehj8vZEjr23Ic9yvZRQCn7nOXtx0NtzBxudL1XKIgBpXBGmOX6-6x9Wj_ap94M2uO2jMrqT1zZc/s1600/P1000470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2900" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92SUtgyUjP70GbiTyEj_T28n1L5LDKKx6WgbgjG32WYHFcjYMi2q2Mn-dNHUjQYMIbehj8vZEjr23Ic9yvZRQCn7nOXtx0NtzBxudL1XKIgBpXBGmOX6-6x9Wj_ap94M2uO2jMrqT1zZc/s1600/P1000470.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2901">
<span style="color: white;"> <span abp="2902" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Lunch time @ Ban Tamor. Students walk in the canteen without shoes.</span></span></div>
<div abp="2903" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="2904" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZhikr51EqeOeFK15CdCi6heVB8Pab1faVGelNlFs58M1QSUbXnFMw9YFsrr2M-4G5us0-_avcnSqTKk20tS8YqOIjGGa6bqPr5uV3A8NfUi9BJtEpyCJYLKJhvRS137oz8oNpVROyAmnC/s1600/P1000499.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="2905" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZhikr51EqeOeFK15CdCi6heVB8Pab1faVGelNlFs58M1QSUbXnFMw9YFsrr2M-4G5us0-_avcnSqTKk20tS8YqOIjGGa6bqPr5uV3A8NfUi9BJtEpyCJYLKJhvRS137oz8oNpVROyAmnC/s1600/P1000499.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="2906" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2907" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2908" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div abp="2909" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2910" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white;">My stay in this school lasted only a week, but I’m really
glad I had the opportunity to work here. <o:p abp="2911"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="2912" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div abp="2913" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2914" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2915" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2916" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p abp="2917"></o:p></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2918" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
<div abp="2919" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="2920" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p abp="2921"></o:p></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="2922" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-26640598874695992702013-11-18T04:45:00.001-08:002013-11-18T04:47:50.051-08:00Thai wedding <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="161" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="536">
<div abp="782">
<span abp="691"><span style="color: white;">
<strong abp="538"><span abp="539" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">A few words of introduction</span></strong></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="540">
<div abp="787">
<span abp="541" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span><span abp="692"><span abp="543"><span abp="693" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"></span></span></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="545">
<div abp="793">
<span abp="692"><span abp="547"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="693" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;">For a few reasons I believe that the
timing of my volunteer program is just perfect. One of them is that I had the
opportunity to attend a Thai wedding </span><span abp="694" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="695" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="696" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"> I love foreign weddings, I attended a few and can
definitely say that wedding is the place to get to know a lot about the
culture, traditions and of course – about the food of the country!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="800">
<span abp="801" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="169" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="553">
<div abp="804">
<span abp="170" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="699"><span abp="556" style="color: white;">This wedding took place in the most
eastern province of Thailand – Ubon Ratchathani, close to the border with Laos.
We left the school after lunch convinced that we have 4 hours of driving ahead
of us. With some small complications on the road it appeared to be 8 long hours
instead. I have to admit that this evening I experienced my first cultural
shock asking myself “what the hell am I doing here” for a few times. First time
was still in the car. We were lost and without proper navigation, tired, the
roads were dark, there was nobody outside to ask for directions and in those
circumstances we drove through a jungle for one hour trying to find the house
of the bride. The roads after floods in the region were quite difficult to pass
without proper car (no need to mention that we didn’t have one), but luckily
even after crossing the road sign “road closed due to flood” finally we found
our destination. What a relief! The family welcomed us nicely with a dinner and
shortly after we went together to our accommodation. The houses were located in
beautiful scenery, in the jungle, just at the river and small waterfalls. Since
we arrived late at night we couldn’t see all of it, but calm sound of a
waterfall was there as a proof. Our house was very basic, but had everything we
needed to get some well-deserved rest. Bathroom had some funny decorations
inside – a tree and a huge spider (size of my feast), all to make the indoor
look like you’re in the nature. As much as I liked the tree in there I found
the spider idea very strange, as some people might be afraid of it… And so,
just to make sure it was a plastic spider I touched it… when it started running
around the bathroom wall!!! I was shocked and scared… I’ve never seen a spider
this size and not in my bathroom after a long and already tiring day! As the
boyfriend of my friend couldn’t find the spider back when I called him to
rescue, they decided that we change the rooms so we get a clean (of spiders)
room. Much appreciated. So thinking that nothing else will surprise me that
night I was going to bed when I received a mysterious message from a friend –
“I hope you’re safe there with the typhoon coming”… I didn’t check the news on
that day, so I didn’t know which typhoon I should be afraid of. Internet
connection in my accommodation was horrible, so I could hardly connect to any
website. All I found was one article about a super strong typhoon in the
Philippines (Haiyan) which could also reach other countries, including the
border regions of Thailand and Laos… Being exactly the location where I was
staying for the weekend! Knowing that I was in the middle of nowhere (one road,
no lights, no civilization), in a place with risk of that typhoon according to
the article I started to imagine scenes from the news & movies about the
catastrophes in Asian countries… Mix of tiredness and discomfort in that place
(plus the exact description of the location from the internet) made me really
believe that something bad is coming. It was a horrible night! I wasn’t able to
sleep until very late and finally totally exhausted I got a few hours of rest.
I had to wake up early and thank god I received a call that the typhoon lost a
lot of its power and there is nothing to worry about (thank you Baby for
staying up till late to give me the updates, you’re the best :* ). </span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="173" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="562">
<div abp="815">
<span abp="702"><span abp="564"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="703" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;">This story made me appreciate my life
more and even miss my work for the first time since I arrived here ;-) Now it sounds
fun to say it to you, but at that night it wasn’t fun at all to me… But I shook
of quickly from negative emotions and did my best to start the wedding
celebrations in good mood. </span><span abp="704" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="705" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="706" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"> The morning at our accommodation was so peaceful –
we had breakfast at a wooden terrace above the river, a beautiful place: </span></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="815">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="340" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="341" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnSUvrDZwwiNZ6BPUGb3bbpkcxtT0KDpJVKyJtHBsnsx5VT-GRzgrMO7oJOr4KuDmYkZhPRvv2wDyDwyOhY1ZJYz4LSfTvF3T3g4OWz72928d_ID6KhgtdzxBPQQX4vGIc4zpByWbCArUU/s1600/DSC05589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="707" style="color: white;"><img abp="708" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnSUvrDZwwiNZ6BPUGb3bbpkcxtT0KDpJVKyJtHBsnsx5VT-GRzgrMO7oJOr4KuDmYkZhPRvv2wDyDwyOhY1ZJYz4LSfTvF3T3g4OWz72928d_ID6KhgtdzxBPQQX4vGIc4zpByWbCArUU/s1600/DSC05589.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="340" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span abp="709"></span><span abp="575" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="340" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span abp="577" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="340" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span abp="579"><span abp="580"><span abp="710"><span abp="711" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><strong abp="583">The wedding</strong></span></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="340" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<strong abp="585"><span abp="586" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></strong><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="346" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="841">
<span abp="588"><span abp="589"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="710"><span abp="711" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;">Thai wedding consists of two parts: a
morning traditional Thai ceremony at a house of the bride and an evening dinner
prepared in western style. We arrived to bride’s house around 7:30 in the
morning, had a Thai breakfast there (rice and chicken) and waited for the
groom. Close family of the bride gathered in the house and soon after the
family of the groom arrived walking through the village until the door of the
girl. The groom had to go through a symbolic gate to enter to the house of the bride.
He then met the bride. Both of them looked stunning. She was wearing a
traditional costume in beige-brown colors with handmade </span><span abp="712" class="hps"><span abp="713" lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: background1;">embroidered</span></span></span><span abp="350" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="714"> patterns and beautiful Thai jewelry and he was
wearing a white uniform used by Thai men for special occasions. The ceremony started
with a blessing of parents and close family members. Each of them said a few
words to the couple and poured holly water on their hands.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="493" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="597" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span abp="718" style="color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="719" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoasCe_Pclmy_tDa1MDRfKFNLoBnBL4k37mu5G33ltLzL1y3qjELBUEhIxPqDI9aYxmTzqbbxIBTR3RS5cy0-9UbeWeW7EfY_TbhadjOWNT0aELWgxEMTwuO90_BhDLwLIWljyh0_laQe2/s1600/DSC05638.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></div>
<div abp="600">
<div abp="855">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="717"> </span><span abp="720"> </span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="498" class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: center; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<a abp="499" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SK8jy5vYHRNhxFc0-nf9vXgYvtSQ4hV3i7C2HRI5rR3c28UKT-Q1QvhyXdlvv0ms8bPWCqKDT2cAxHhPhbD3EUZ7IKPwQK0rEKzGQWGoBa0ozl6b-LAXedRMJBLL8qExj17-Iw6Lzv7T/s1600/DSC05628-SMILE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="721" style="color: white;"><img abp="722" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SK8jy5vYHRNhxFc0-nf9vXgYvtSQ4hV3i7C2HRI5rR3c28UKT-Q1QvhyXdlvv0ms8bPWCqKDT2cAxHhPhbD3EUZ7IKPwQK0rEKzGQWGoBa0ozl6b-LAXedRMJBLL8qExj17-Iw6Lzv7T/s1600/DSC05628-SMILE.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="346" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="863">
<span abp="608" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="346" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="866">
<span abp="610" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Shortly
after we moved to another part of the house where all family members could
enter and pray for the new weds. The family prepared a kind of tree made of
banana leafs, next to which they put a few offerings for the happiness of the couple.
In a very cheerful atmosphere they sang songs, said prayers and blessings. At
some point the father handed across the room a ball of thread and once everyone
held a part of the thread in their hands they started prayers. I found this an interesting
symbol of unity. After the prayers the family cued to give their wishes together
with a few banknotes for a good start of married life to the couple. They have
a very interesting way of doing it, namely you wrap the banknotes with some floss
and tie this “bracelet” on the wrist of the bride and the groom. As a result, they
finish the ceremony with wrists full of bracelets with banknotes which
afterwards they take out to count the money together with their parents. Next step
is also related to money – the parents of the groom hand over a pile of money to
the parents of the bride – this is to provide the new weds with some cash for
the beginning of their family life. <o:p abp="611"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="346" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="870">
<span abp="613" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Below
some more pictures from the traditional part of the wedding:</span></div>
</div>
<div abp="657" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="658" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTob0Al184eEIJDpNlcItia0Hs3Z7Yg8VykQ3qa8VyWUvv9fYPbeXDKrpGMTq7_t2Jg-yho4mGLSPA3HgZ41KSWcaBCuQuc2xizmbocXPL4ck1WY00qFWfc6yWVE98iUgqfye3R3qhW0sQ/s1600/DSC05646.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="659" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTob0Al184eEIJDpNlcItia0Hs3Z7Yg8VykQ3qa8VyWUvv9fYPbeXDKrpGMTq7_t2Jg-yho4mGLSPA3HgZ41KSWcaBCuQuc2xizmbocXPL4ck1WY00qFWfc6yWVE98iUgqfye3R3qhW0sQ/s1600/DSC05646.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="617">
<div abp="876">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="660" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="661" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhtopoOG_27JEVTUij5L9qOuemVyDmiAZ2usK22PgowwqFu0cqO8BSkx3qMRkTa67W7-EfGRyp2uHthoNV1yXWWl0_xquiPIY25BdXLM4lx_L2PWekhV5ZBY8OXPSktB5SS-0O6QpQ0d9/s1600/DSC05666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="662" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhtopoOG_27JEVTUij5L9qOuemVyDmiAZ2usK22PgowwqFu0cqO8BSkx3qMRkTa67W7-EfGRyp2uHthoNV1yXWWl0_xquiPIY25BdXLM4lx_L2PWekhV5ZBY8OXPSktB5SS-0O6QpQ0d9/s1600/DSC05666.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="663" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="664" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="665" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxHztJBwtPG2A69p_5V-4Eg1jIXIZh39xMAby2Ye5dwkbuBjXRAriUuUh-gr39xrlf0lELc_9MmXV7Vn_Uhe57vHnyo2peCEtzEQP4qHXrFC_njB6Esyp5ONm5ulPra_c5ObZF3TR3g4u/s1600/DSC05654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="666" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxHztJBwtPG2A69p_5V-4Eg1jIXIZh39xMAby2Ye5dwkbuBjXRAriUuUh-gr39xrlf0lELc_9MmXV7Vn_Uhe57vHnyo2peCEtzEQP4qHXrFC_njB6Esyp5ONm5ulPra_c5ObZF3TR3g4u/s1600/DSC05654.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="621">
<div abp="885">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="622" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="619" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKNplv5y_c-AQ76Ant-B6CzKT8AleaTJQG-Ng5Z_i1_uqEfX7hleqtiPznYpymNhU4p9OlsLsbdHrEh_rb_KdTt_PhJ0DiYqGn1pZojbE94ZmhyG-reybQmHfYR_KFeRB1PCr02o1uKqF/s1600/DSC05684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="620" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKNplv5y_c-AQ76Ant-B6CzKT8AleaTJQG-Ng5Z_i1_uqEfX7hleqtiPznYpymNhU4p9OlsLsbdHrEh_rb_KdTt_PhJ0DiYqGn1pZojbE94ZmhyG-reybQmHfYR_KFeRB1PCr02o1uKqF/s1600/DSC05684.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="625">
<div abp="890">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="631">
<div abp="892">
<span abp="354" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="723"><span abp="639"><span abp="724" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span abp="805" style="color: white; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="631">
<div abp="899">
<span abp="354" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="723"><span abp="639"><span abp="724" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="667" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We
spent the afternoon relaxing and walking around the river in our resort. It was
a very quiet and abandoned place, we haven’t met anyone and hardly saw the
owner of the place, but it was perfect like that </span><span abp="668" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="669" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="670" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p abp="671"></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="909">
<span abp="354" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="723"><span abp="639"><span abp="724" style="color: white; mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span><br /></div>
<span abp="354" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="723"><span abp="639"><span abp="724" style="color: white; mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span abp="354" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="723"><span abp="639"><span abp="724" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><div abp="636">
<div abp="919">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="672" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span> </span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="810" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="811" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYs-RJFvyqg4jQKQYSlZ3YX5mtrH6SPoklf2LXOD0ltop7XjdcOd-7QNbkaiIMF3nJAZPoRt5kskXA6ORCk27WW4-aT_AMjdqIgssRFmC4BiKTrDJGtk4d1P9a816W0kcxsS6ZIXp4mT_/s1600/DSC05700.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="812" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYs-RJFvyqg4jQKQYSlZ3YX5mtrH6SPoklf2LXOD0ltop7XjdcOd-7QNbkaiIMF3nJAZPoRt5kskXA6ORCk27WW4-aT_AMjdqIgssRFmC4BiKTrDJGtk4d1P9a816W0kcxsS6ZIXp4mT_/s1600/DSC05700.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="813">
<div abp="927">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="814" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="815" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNCj7-pHRlBc-_fT6U_WrFFXJNQ9EPfRPVug-9bN270zfKchp82lkcJm9_II5482qt1btLIaVpnWtGoGCbXdQB3WEbLdNv6fOLY3Lr4UmOjTb8VENW37GE0LmsNPv17qRfsTH0RbNReoyf/s1600/DSC05713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="816" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNCj7-pHRlBc-_fT6U_WrFFXJNQ9EPfRPVug-9bN270zfKchp82lkcJm9_II5482qt1btLIaVpnWtGoGCbXdQB3WEbLdNv6fOLY3Lr4UmOjTb8VENW37GE0LmsNPv17qRfsTH0RbNReoyf/s1600/DSC05713.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="636">
<div abp="932">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="636">
<div abp="934">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="636">
<div abp="936">
<span abp="823" style="color: white; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="824" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="939">
<span style="color: white;"><span abp="825" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The evening
ceremony took place at a school nearby, where the bride’s father was a teacher.
We met the new weds at the entrance. She was wearing a beautiful white dress
and he a white suit, they looked very happy. There were around 250 guests, all
sat at round tables of 6-8 people. The place looked beautiful, decorated with
white and pink colors and with a big stage in the front. Based on what I heard
before I expected traditional Thai dancing performances, but what I saw was far
from traditional Thai dance. A group of girls dressed in shiny provocative costumes
(bras and tiny skirts) were dancing a quite erotic dance in front of all guests.
What made it even more awkward was the fact that guys were approaching the
stage to give tips to their favorite dancers… It reminded me more strip club
scenes than a wedding dance, but no one seemed surprised. <span abp="826" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Funny! In the meantime while dance shows and
greetings took place at the stage we enjoyed a delicious dinner with seafood,
fish, meat, rice and fruits for dessert. I have to admit that as a Polish girl
I expected more food and more contact with guests at the wedding. Over there
the new weds spent most of the evening at the stage and eventually walked by
all tables to take a photo with all guests. The party was over and most people
left within 2 hours, so this was very very different from a Polish wedding </span><span abp="827" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="828" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="829" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p abp="830"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="636">
<div abp="947">
<span abp="831" style="color: white; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><span abp="831" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><div abp="975" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="979" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="980" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZDV37fxAAaa6OIHmw5Zh5wv1Q1jxQ9eVu4C_y_8FUxphZDFd2McfCY5gORDCE8OLe8-8xvVfnPUM87njxEe_kAJXP_pTb7F7FQeh_kadft4jsDILd4xyIbR2cXdGqqUAs-ZNZg49oVj_/s1600/DSC05733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="981" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZDV37fxAAaa6OIHmw5Zh5wv1Q1jxQ9eVu4C_y_8FUxphZDFd2McfCY5gORDCE8OLe8-8xvVfnPUM87njxEe_kAJXP_pTb7F7FQeh_kadft4jsDILd4xyIbR2cXdGqqUAs-ZNZg49oVj_/s1600/DSC05733.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="982">
<div abp="955">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
<br abp="956" />
</span><div abp="994" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="995" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMKJ6iDEWWHnXLF8KgDq_NIMIIJpb4QaA2Cu50CnKXtrwrONzPhORc5ZwD5DrZqQVyqA9jl2E5zV0qwib0Y5RqMQ-ku8es5WK2gMi_qXnmyfpzS7QSk82aIhcEum93wcwIlZv5wnQ744xe/s1600/DSC05739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="996" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMKJ6iDEWWHnXLF8KgDq_NIMIIJpb4QaA2Cu50CnKXtrwrONzPhORc5ZwD5DrZqQVyqA9jl2E5zV0qwib0Y5RqMQ-ku8es5WK2gMi_qXnmyfpzS7QSk82aIhcEum93wcwIlZv5wnQ744xe/s1600/DSC05739.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="997" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="961">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="998" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="963">
<span abp="999" style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><strong abp="1000">The day after</strong></span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span><div abp="1001" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="967">
<span abp="1002" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Fun part of the wedding started actually the morning after… When going to take breakfast we met a group of wedding guests continuing the party with drinking, singing and playing guitar. We joined them in the singing and spent a great morning having fun and socializing with them. They were very open and fun, tried to speak and sing English for me – and I have to admit that after some whisky their language skills got better. They also taught me how to play one of their local instruments, giving a lovely soft sound. I loved this morning, it was so spontaneous and full of fun!!! At the end my new friends gave me this instrument with a special dedication ‘for Pau’ :) </span></div>
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1327">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1328" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1329" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircqZ51DKrxy-S8T4DFAx8SHPFmgtw0Ntl-S3BtD2Z4PMTKGyjo967JSbV8U-oqHzHJPlxbLQycENHAKyUs2zT2tJuF3CixVgx7oJHuahfdsYU6uLz1IHbthNGbtx13vsHlDugVreECdvp/s1600/DSC05752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1330" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircqZ51DKrxy-S8T4DFAx8SHPFmgtw0Ntl-S3BtD2Z4PMTKGyjo967JSbV8U-oqHzHJPlxbLQycENHAKyUs2zT2tJuF3CixVgx7oJHuahfdsYU6uLz1IHbthNGbtx13vsHlDugVreECdvp/s1600/DSC05752.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1328" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1344" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1345" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1WuULdj4Ac9h8ByAv3QUnvFidpREVOO5lSE1UnOjwi5A0OVS6MZG0OHDPhCLA6cQg24-a6ZYHdk39jhgoJsihlAQd8FYocxyIYpOMwTLRwIWdI_29ZXvedQ7JSDPcRsKB0VFbDyEbOgXk/s1600/DSC05768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1346" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1WuULdj4Ac9h8ByAv3QUnvFidpREVOO5lSE1UnOjwi5A0OVS6MZG0OHDPhCLA6cQg24-a6ZYHdk39jhgoJsihlAQd8FYocxyIYpOMwTLRwIWdI_29ZXvedQ7JSDPcRsKB0VFbDyEbOgXk/s1600/DSC05768.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1331">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1347" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1348" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxeludoXLtSKx2Kboccz2Fx2H1dPeGO7wSVByxqES9gbfmSbjVcQmKMihgvlcyWH7TcXyAgJlyby-lmLao7RCnO2XwyjEQA33np25bxFEoB8fUaoE5xxIkp-WK_aZjsqjdU0Dvox7Wdj-/s1600/DSC05861.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1349" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxeludoXLtSKx2Kboccz2Fx2H1dPeGO7wSVByxqES9gbfmSbjVcQmKMihgvlcyWH7TcXyAgJlyby-lmLao7RCnO2XwyjEQA33np25bxFEoB8fUaoE5xxIkp-WK_aZjsqjdU0Dvox7Wdj-/s1600/DSC05861.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="1350" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1351" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Before
leaving our resort I took some great shots of kids playing in the river – it
was a lot of fun seeing them play in the water:</span></div>
<div abp="1675">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1676" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1677" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGX-ZAA6BJcfP7alYovIQSfeJZ28ou7ip6kktzn35SaSjFJnrUNpoc6Ir_5nrFd8sdxsRnFXMAFg_A8hZmeCuYl_i57mxGaygICR-6RtAYX3f77zl5OKaY_QGeBuow8nEOOjWIGCpqVMv8/s1600/DSC05815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1678" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGX-ZAA6BJcfP7alYovIQSfeJZ28ou7ip6kktzn35SaSjFJnrUNpoc6Ir_5nrFd8sdxsRnFXMAFg_A8hZmeCuYl_i57mxGaygICR-6RtAYX3f77zl5OKaY_QGeBuow8nEOOjWIGCpqVMv8/s1600/DSC05815.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1679">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1680" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1681" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_z2I62P_ub_6_u0rLSgJlborznDI3Hg3CkYnVRKVYrDlrpHRlThdVpDlHwDiacYpH0n-Dz3E6zE0w09gd86GLahSi5LPhzNAu0c-kv4W-OZ6C66YXYLy_t-ddQTj-9NYoxfUoNinqkYGO/s1600/DSC05816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1682" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_z2I62P_ub_6_u0rLSgJlborznDI3Hg3CkYnVRKVYrDlrpHRlThdVpDlHwDiacYpH0n-Dz3E6zE0w09gd86GLahSi5LPhzNAu0c-kv4W-OZ6C66YXYLy_t-ddQTj-9NYoxfUoNinqkYGO/s1600/DSC05816.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1683">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1684" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1685" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivn2mzsRy3h8c1AelsqafCUYie3hCexYRg_Xu-sM2kX9zgC8acyfbPgeFoGWyy3rcOhJ2kCw-Ol0uVRk7xLboJCg3zFOU6uOAMxqJR7zooMGcEVRcEnZ0AFuXBJlv5wgJ2knTyfYmORh_D/s1600/DSC05833.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1686" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivn2mzsRy3h8c1AelsqafCUYie3hCexYRg_Xu-sM2kX9zgC8acyfbPgeFoGWyy3rcOhJ2kCw-Ol0uVRk7xLboJCg3zFOU6uOAMxqJR7zooMGcEVRcEnZ0AFuXBJlv5wgJ2knTyfYmORh_D/s1600/DSC05833.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1687">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1688" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1689" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzO5eX1XjsygFIOdoW9NdXu0WUEd48xck2AemQH9kmV5077ZzN1_KP7NTKx5npRBkhosgtdKvbPTweXebBY4KyjIeavHzzie_xuxgcWAewTug54C-qKev-ZTtU0WEhGkpHL09bbCW2xPc8/s1600/DSC05838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1690" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzO5eX1XjsygFIOdoW9NdXu0WUEd48xck2AemQH9kmV5077ZzN1_KP7NTKx5npRBkhosgtdKvbPTweXebBY4KyjIeavHzzie_xuxgcWAewTug54C-qKev-ZTtU0WEhGkpHL09bbCW2xPc8/s1600/DSC05838.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1691">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1692" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1693" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1SLQNNRaUps7KiIKxzugaslb25VyoRthTOnpoT3o6EySti8eRCs-ZWuXbYgxFlWD91B6riPXQaoX3fU7LBRxNl0T7Aw0GVdqdrGapzhwGu70VqW_gJEzH4SMcuc9uN2SwffLRFvEz7q6/s1600/DSC05847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="1694" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1SLQNNRaUps7KiIKxzugaslb25VyoRthTOnpoT3o6EySti8eRCs-ZWuXbYgxFlWD91B6riPXQaoX3fU7LBRxNl0T7Aw0GVdqdrGapzhwGu70VqW_gJEzH4SMcuc9uN2SwffLRFvEz7q6/s1600/DSC05847.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="1695">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1696" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="1697" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiot2SkgDlyRTPztlrKGokQxSylJ-Sw-7p6dGnbwuEyFK8lzyEQyQkaLAmeIrdG924J5Oc0PcKY8I4QKlthka3PCVw3_aCZknkBdbu6znPxE8o_YW-fIthRMgTc5p1QD3_iWMtCSHbKIrSi/s1600/DSC05847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="1352" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="1353" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p abp="1356"></o:p></span><span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span></span><div abp="1001" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span></span><div abp="1001" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span></span><div abp="1001" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span></span><div abp="1001" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span></span><span style="color: white;"></span><br />
<div abp="1001" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="967">
<span style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-40652390170633403172013-11-12T01:54:00.001-08:002013-11-12T01:56:00.161-08:00Teaching at Saikeaw Wittaya<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="290">
<span abp="291" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="292" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b abp="293" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="294" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="295"><span style="color: white;">Schedule<o:p abp="296"></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
<div abp="297">
<span abp="298" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="299" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="300" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="301"><span style="color: white;">Every
morning in a Thai school starts with an activity. There is an opening ceremony
between 8:00 - 8:30 and all students arriving earlier than help in cleaning the
school (sweeping and cleaning the floor, toilets, sport field in front). By 8am
they gather in the center to attend the ceremony during which they sing the
Thai anthem, say a prayer and listen to the news from school’s principal.
Afterwards the lessons start. In my schedule is 19 hours of teaching with 3
teachers (Nok, Lin and Pim). Usually every teacher has 18-20 hours of lessons,
so my hours are within the teacher’s average. The remaining time between
8:00-16:00 teachers spend on preparing the class, correcting test/homework or
helping with some administration work at the school.<o:p abp="302"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="303">
<span abp="304" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="305" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b abp="306" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="307" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="308"><span style="color: white;">Lessons<o:p abp="309"></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
<div abp="310">
<span abp="311" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="312" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="313"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="314" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
first day at school was very exciting and a bit stressful, because I have never
been on the other side before - as a teacher and presenter. I LOVED IT!!! </span><span abp="315" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="316" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="317" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> I prepared a nice
presentation to show the students a few interesting facts about Poland. I
showed them where it is located, what are the most interesting tourist
attractions, how each season looks like and what is our typical food. At the
end I talked a bit about my family showing some of their pictures. It was a perfect
ice breaker for most of the groups - students were very interested and liked
our landscape, opened their eyes widely for the stories about winter in Poland
and got hungry looking at the picture of zurek (who can resist it?) ;) This
presentation was also a first check of the English level of the group – some
students were following most of it and asking simple questions, but others were
not able to understand much and I had to ask the teachers to translate. That’s
how I realized that most of the children have very basis English level and
aren’t used to talk English at all. They are able to introduce themselves and
follow the teacher during the class - which means to repeat the text instead of
reading loud, to copy the grammar logic in a difference sentence. In general the
lessons are taught in Thai language since this is also the way the English
teachers were taught they believe that this is the correct way. But in my
opinion without understanding the meaning of the sentences used for grammar
exercises students can just blindly copy the model rather than understanding
the sense behind it. In the reading and vocabulary part of the lesson teacher would
read the text in English, explain the meaning of all of it in Thai, explain
questions to the text in Thai and the whole group would try to find the word or
sentence in English answering the question. Not the best way to improve reading
skills and vocabulary… <o:p abp="318"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="319">
<span abp="320" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="321" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="322"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="323" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">That
was a description of common practice in this country based on what I heard and
noticed until now. Of course there are some exceptions and not all teachers are
like that. Some of my colleagues put a lot of efforts in making students
understand and enjoy English, even if it requires a lot of patience and their
time to prepare interesting lesson material. Nok is a great example - I admire
her for what she does and enjoy working with her very much. We prepare the
material for lessons together and try to make it interesting, useful and rich
in information. I can easily say that her effort pays off looking at the level
of her students. They are quite confident in reading and are able to understand
the grammar rules fast. Nok speaks to them mostly in English, so they are
familiar with the language and not afraid when I approach to talk. They are very
open and friendly, it’s a pleasure to work with all of them. </span><span abp="324" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="325" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="326" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> Our focus is to improve
their communication skills and pronunciation, as I can contribute to that
during my stay. Hopefully I’ll also motivate them to study more by showing at
least one of the cultures that are so different from theirs and reachable with
good education and good language skills. </span><span abp="327" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="328" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="329" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p abp="330"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="331">
<span abp="332" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="333" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="334" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="335"><span style="color: white;">Going
back to more challenging situations… I joined some of my lessons without
preparing upfront. The teacher didn’t require it and there was no time to
discuss it before. My task then was to read to children text from the book and
ask them to read after me. I quickly realized that this was pointless, as they instead
of reading just repeated after me without trying to understand. When I proposed
to involve the students more in the lesson and asked them to read one sentence
loud for me I learned that only one person in a class was able to read English…
For all the rest I had to help them using the practice that they knew well –
reading & repeating after the teacher. I was left speechless. They were 17
years old, so had at least a few years of English study before that and still
they could not read… What shocked me even more is that the teacher was
perfectly aware of that, but didn’t want to waste the time to improve it, as
she would be late with her program. She told me – yes, if you want you can
teach them how to read – as if it was a 10 minutes task! I heard afterwards
that this class is not the best and have difficulties in more subjects … and so
they decided that I won’t have more lessons with them, since there might be
students that would benefit more from a foreign teacher. <o:p abp="336"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="337">
<span abp="338" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="339" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b abp="340" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="341" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="342"><span style="color: white;">Conditions at school<o:p abp="343"></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
<div abp="344">
<span abp="345" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="346" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="347" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="348"><span style="color: white;">There
are 3 main buildings where classes take place, but in my opinion only one of
them offers proper conditions to focus on studying. Two of the buildings are
without windows and doors which means that noises or people passing outside easily
distract the students. Each class has one room assigned to them and respective
teachers come there according to their schedule. Classrooms have very old
equipment – broken tables and chairs, traditional board… Some of the rooms have
projector and modern boards, so we were to show my presentation about Poland.<o:p abp="349"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="350">
<span abp="351" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="352" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="353"><span style="color: white;"><span abp="354" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
canteen doesn’t look more modern, but it’s clean and has tables and chairs for
everyone. It offers a choice of a few dishes, noodles and some desserts. Next to
the board where you order food you can find a table with several types of
spices – chili, fish sauce, oysters’ sauce, sweet and sour sauce – it’s amazing
that no person will pass by without adding some extra flavor to their meal! I
call chili a Thai drug, people say that since they tried it they cannot live
without it anymore </span><span abp="355" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="356" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="357" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p abp="358"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="359">
<span abp="360" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="361" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b abp="362" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span abp="363" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="364"><span style="color: white;">Parents’ meeting day<o:p abp="365"></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
<div abp="366">
<span abp="367" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="368" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="369" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="370"><span style="color: white;">Last
day of my first week of teaching was a day of parents’ meeting. There were no
lessons during that day even if all children were at school. After the morning
ceremony they were left free to take care of themselves for the whole day,
something very different what I remember from my school, where we were never
left without adult’s supervision... In the meantime parents were gathering in
the main hall where some students performed songs for them. I noticed a few of
my favourite kids on the stage and I was very happy to see their show. They won
a singing competition in the Surin province and one of the girls will now
attend the next level - a competition within Isaan region. The atmosphere was
very relaxed during this day, I talked a bit to some students and teachers and
we left early to travel for the weekend.<o:p abp="371"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="372">
<span abp="373" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="374" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span abp="375" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p abp="376"><span abp="377" style="color: white;">Below you can find some pictures from the lessons with level 6 (conversations between each other) and level 1 (crosswords). Last picture come from the parents' meeting day. The girl is singing a song of Adelle :)</span></o:p></span></div>
<div abp="374" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span abp="375" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p abp="376"><span style="color: white;"></span></o:p></span> </div>
<div abp="894" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="895" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz7pkVNsICQl41BEKuN1wZiHBojr2lW5fHFtcR-Wf-oCN0sIC8YQpBfy-39ZIwmhnIdvnnwL4EqT1_JbuW94Nwrl9nyu_fzfv5XqVUNd6RIGk4yd3Imjcg5z2CJ4P1Sr67pY2iz5Qz1Fe/s1600/DSC01639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="896" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz7pkVNsICQl41BEKuN1wZiHBojr2lW5fHFtcR-Wf-oCN0sIC8YQpBfy-39ZIwmhnIdvnnwL4EqT1_JbuW94Nwrl9nyu_fzfv5XqVUNd6RIGk4yd3Imjcg5z2CJ4P1Sr67pY2iz5Qz1Fe/s1600/DSC01639.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="897">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="898" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="899" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXS6xW-O5l2x_4vAmdvDKEVyimugOl6LEEz01WSFFU9Zc0Wt9hgYnaFDxLyoKXdoY4pQdS895ljIxIqpWYAMbhq9FdAidXy6MvIl0LC7WfMCExh7A7LNV7uSyWIO1PfMieSRhUJTA49j72/s1600/DSC01640.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="900" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXS6xW-O5l2x_4vAmdvDKEVyimugOl6LEEz01WSFFU9Zc0Wt9hgYnaFDxLyoKXdoY4pQdS895ljIxIqpWYAMbhq9FdAidXy6MvIl0LC7WfMCExh7A7LNV7uSyWIO1PfMieSRhUJTA49j72/s1600/DSC01640.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="898" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div abp="901">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNaXKeRAZtgo7RxqaT5yh0Wi8YK-wz1T3-t1lI8FUZEJg4TzZCjokrsTLLVWYfxiIISRHWEkDORoR6RvgUg0CQJfaitVhnSVdmyZ4SXfs5Ic8v6eD73qS9GvGMq57mMM6-f01M9p2Ic1L/s1600/DSC01637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="944" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNaXKeRAZtgo7RxqaT5yh0Wi8YK-wz1T3-t1lI8FUZEJg4TzZCjokrsTLLVWYfxiIISRHWEkDORoR6RvgUg0CQJfaitVhnSVdmyZ4SXfs5Ic8v6eD73qS9GvGMq57mMM6-f01M9p2Ic1L/s1600/DSC01637.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="902" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="903" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix4lhu2f3EWw92TaDkeklW9a3xHAA3Vq7AvhbsZ9f4zuEvFHxMZu-E0SqUUd9Z4fHx2AiIqhdyTXEm9U9jgMDtZH6R9PeBxRFoVq-4_OlgjKJLlvGTOYY9oE4RBEyyNbczmqCgxjGCtu2z/s1600/DSC05530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="904" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix4lhu2f3EWw92TaDkeklW9a3xHAA3Vq7AvhbsZ9f4zuEvFHxMZu-E0SqUUd9Z4fHx2AiIqhdyTXEm9U9jgMDtZH6R9PeBxRFoVq-4_OlgjKJLlvGTOYY9oE4RBEyyNbczmqCgxjGCtu2z/s1600/DSC05530.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="905">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="906" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="907" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3k-c34jnMUJa67Ag7Lr4UvBgFcfyoDOYz20yKSBDWL4RkgeZ-WZbK4W38G29s1CZhF5DS2hmcfc_xWOgz5W9LbZWe1LdrRLOm8euPlbX4n-DDa3PVJxsrwLLg5byxbHIBgxKfRAhoY1J/s1600/DSC05532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="908" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3k-c34jnMUJa67Ag7Lr4UvBgFcfyoDOYz20yKSBDWL4RkgeZ-WZbK4W38G29s1CZhF5DS2hmcfc_xWOgz5W9LbZWe1LdrRLOm8euPlbX4n-DDa3PVJxsrwLLg5byxbHIBgxKfRAhoY1J/s1600/DSC05532.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="909">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="910" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="911" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVAK9rOA31tz3qA6lDu0xbEt4FQkhF5MMGlvir76JEMQFdAOPMU46QI40ckrEwBRQXCHh2DqLb4S5B5N_X7v0N7oc9E1EUszmjQdk-WTH2BWbwF8eGHXAtFMCkwCqQRp5U8jUl5MzzzmA/s1600/DSC05538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="912" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVAK9rOA31tz3qA6lDu0xbEt4FQkhF5MMGlvir76JEMQFdAOPMU46QI40ckrEwBRQXCHh2DqLb4S5B5N_X7v0N7oc9E1EUszmjQdk-WTH2BWbwF8eGHXAtFMCkwCqQRp5U8jUl5MzzzmA/s1600/DSC05538.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="913">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="914" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="915" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-MlRcrLAOMx33QaZsCN78DsH8Ho44lqxo4YeqUIONILMPyQz0mWTUSzVW8MP1VtYwLSIpQ-iLQ2mzmxr0P0FZ9Ur1uQnppOOeA1cnBheIcEcBwjvLC3olrIN66UP5jTq-F-JRGuBwVek/s1600/DSC05539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="916" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-MlRcrLAOMx33QaZsCN78DsH8Ho44lqxo4YeqUIONILMPyQz0mWTUSzVW8MP1VtYwLSIpQ-iLQ2mzmxr0P0FZ9Ur1uQnppOOeA1cnBheIcEcBwjvLC3olrIN66UP5jTq-F-JRGuBwVek/s1600/DSC05539.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="917">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="918" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="919" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT50eFGSsnyzTGF45deUVCpTym_Ch0tUL00UePtO4Cmmw4OAq-FG2XYxYh70gZYNyVFuGXltaNRhyFY9GOXcPcgZiCOykvyTRsBUXq1pgAzBLKnSVezzHwAG7LMMiZX5qgutqPESZWhwCo/s1600/DSC05541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="920" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT50eFGSsnyzTGF45deUVCpTym_Ch0tUL00UePtO4Cmmw4OAq-FG2XYxYh70gZYNyVFuGXltaNRhyFY9GOXcPcgZiCOykvyTRsBUXq1pgAzBLKnSVezzHwAG7LMMiZX5qgutqPESZWhwCo/s1600/DSC05541.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="921">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="922" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="923" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9CU2zhE8PMd-xsVtfbNx6QnNE9fhUgpxCSSeUoiyYWNuY-LU5QMB1G5u0EJ5bwgkaUTqqoNOf5V9yaSKh6iAn9d76-rkjZyDYnUum43R2MH14Yz5BK0K0JqS9Eac7DQFSV8uqjNZAIBc/s1600/DSC05562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="924" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9CU2zhE8PMd-xsVtfbNx6QnNE9fhUgpxCSSeUoiyYWNuY-LU5QMB1G5u0EJ5bwgkaUTqqoNOf5V9yaSKh6iAn9d76-rkjZyDYnUum43R2MH14Yz5BK0K0JqS9Eac7DQFSV8uqjNZAIBc/s1600/DSC05562.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="925">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="926" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="927" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjE7an4aTNfUkrsTMvj9M9DFS8Igx-vKFsI8WAQ2vhxt91Cw1yadwhTKsNlG_r-7xAub5WZQ6WDYqWYp2ZpOb6IIg_2QRNPywCEestmmBsBWjVipqINJy0RpeXkv9LGFLMCMTFGqQbNKus/s1600/DSC05563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="928" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjE7an4aTNfUkrsTMvj9M9DFS8Igx-vKFsI8WAQ2vhxt91Cw1yadwhTKsNlG_r-7xAub5WZQ6WDYqWYp2ZpOb6IIg_2QRNPywCEestmmBsBWjVipqINJy0RpeXkv9LGFLMCMTFGqQbNKus/s1600/DSC05563.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="929">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="930" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="931" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi050rbehXL2YM0MD4iDJ8xXLuhcWhbJz4yYuIjGSvyT3T3igRJr0qSua0UXXMZl2lVzMKYO-WCswNnrk6msquEBcFnOXYvLa95VQnubrU9jz0onhJtiVM6Smav6IW_v2yROlbeG7J8Vujx/s1600/DSC05566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="932" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi050rbehXL2YM0MD4iDJ8xXLuhcWhbJz4yYuIjGSvyT3T3igRJr0qSua0UXXMZl2lVzMKYO-WCswNnrk6msquEBcFnOXYvLa95VQnubrU9jz0onhJtiVM6Smav6IW_v2yROlbeG7J8Vujx/s1600/DSC05566.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="933">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="934" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="935" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVusUOEoSxUflElfoS1FIeJm4ERXOc18-hKsG_U67i04oAcAV9DyeAJtR3-B5SVmWATPKfdx1gd8owu7fUAHU8nhdg7QzIlqr78wbtNv6ojSgdw2Wv7AjmWEmf4sFaInCIsuLsqgr4Hv5j/s1600/DSC05568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="936" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVusUOEoSxUflElfoS1FIeJm4ERXOc18-hKsG_U67i04oAcAV9DyeAJtR3-B5SVmWATPKfdx1gd8owu7fUAHU8nhdg7QzIlqr78wbtNv6ojSgdw2Wv7AjmWEmf4sFaInCIsuLsqgr4Hv5j/s1600/DSC05568.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="937">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="938" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="939" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Qw3stLjuiRNvRWWVJWPiPq0zl1tRA_IiVtaElcyltFKrEz0T-OJKdU28yPQ_ZseM51p3TFC0qcAo76mEcMTP3PjsUnruAzyLLWZgnjdpl5xDyKB0vPwsUr8JI6nF6y-O9vxkGY2cvmms/s1600/DSC05576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img abp="940" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Qw3stLjuiRNvRWWVJWPiPq0zl1tRA_IiVtaElcyltFKrEz0T-OJKdU28yPQ_ZseM51p3TFC0qcAo76mEcMTP3PjsUnruAzyLLWZgnjdpl5xDyKB0vPwsUr8JI6nF6y-O9vxkGY2cvmms/s1600/DSC05576.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="941">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div abp="942" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="943" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNaXKeRAZtgo7RxqaT5yh0Wi8YK-wz1T3-t1lI8FUZEJg4TzZCjokrsTLLVWYfxiIISRHWEkDORoR6RvgUg0CQJfaitVhnSVdmyZ4SXfs5Ic8v6eD73qS9GvGMq57mMM6-f01M9p2Ic1L/s1600/DSC01637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"></span></a><br /></div>
<div abp="378" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span abp="379" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p abp="380"><span style="color: white;"></span></o:p></span> </div>
<div abp="383">
<span abp="384" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-vS7jxa9YLvo%2FUoH4yUJJh2I%2FAAAAAAAAC9Q%2Fw9deH9Bnb9c%2Fs1600%2FDSC01637.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNaXKeRAZtgo7RxqaT5yh0Wi8YK-wz1T3-t1lI8FUZEJg4TzZCjokrsTLLVWYfxiIISRHWEkDORoR6RvgUg0CQJfaitVhnSVdmyZ4SXfs5Ic8v6eD73qS9GvGMq57mMM6-f01M9p2Ic1L/s1600/DSC01637.JPG" -->Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-55691913375436870792013-11-06T07:29:00.000-08:002013-11-06T07:34:54.880-08:00My first days here<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="161" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="399">
<span abp="400" style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<div abp="162" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="717">
<div abp="11">
<div abp="404">
<span abp="405" style="color: white;"><span abp="163" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I
left Brussels on Wednesday, 30<sup abp="164">th</sup> of October, in the evening. My two flights
took in total 13 hours and I landed in Bangkok around 8pm in the evening. At
the time my European friends were waking up for me in Thailand it was time to
go to bed again. My first surprise awaited me already at the airport. According
to the instructions I received – a teacher named Nok picked me up from the
airport together with another teacher and two students. They came to welcome
their faran (foreign) teacher </span><span abp="165" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="166" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="167" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> It
was a very nice gesture! <o:p abp="168"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="169" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="413">
<span abp="414" style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<div abp="170" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="726">
<div abp="21">
<div abp="418">
<a abp="402" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpPchG4CDDuPDbgCbeuplhWnZO2vqMCct-QF8WHpX06SpMp2IpbYO8_K_Kvv6cnL-bQ6Lp1-s5_NKoCw4AdEMZtxKQMkCRydT0ELJT7bzsyjTabjzbJshAbjc64wRTB2CqrcTy6I5P8FL/s1600/DSC05459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span abp="420" style="color: white;"><img abp="403" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpPchG4CDDuPDbgCbeuplhWnZO2vqMCct-QF8WHpX06SpMp2IpbYO8_K_Kvv6cnL-bQ6Lp1-s5_NKoCw4AdEMZtxKQMkCRydT0ELJT7bzsyjTabjzbJshAbjc64wRTB2CqrcTy6I5P8FL/s1600/DSC05459.JPG" height="200" width="186" /></span></a><span abp="171" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We
took a van from Bangkok to Surin (direction north-east) and during the 6 hours
journey we had our first talk with Nok about Thailand, schools and the
volunteer experience which I’m about to live. I learned in the meantime that
she already has a lot of great suggestions for my/our weekend trips around the
Surin region. After a few hours of quite bumpy ride we arrived to my host
family – I’m staying with a young English teacher Pim in the house of her aunt (Pa)
and her cousin (Mint). As you can see on the picture, the house and my room are new and comfortable.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="173" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="424">
<span abp="425" style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<div abp="173" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="732">
<div abp="28">
<div abp="429">
<span abp="430" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="173" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="734">
<div abp="31">
<div abp="434">
<span abp="435" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="173" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="736">
<div abp="34">
<div abp="439">
<span abp="440" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="173" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="738">
<div abp="37">
<div abp="444">
<span abp="445" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="177" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="740">
<div abp="40">
<div abp="449">
<span abp="450" style="color: white;"><span abp="178" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">On
Friday morning together with Nok we went to meet the Principle of the Saikeaw
High School where I will teach. The school is located around 10 minutes by car
from my house. There are 500 students in the age of 13-18 and there are 3
English teachers which I will work with – Nok, Pim and Lin. The first
impression of the school was very positive, children who were outside were very
interested in seeing me, but very shy to talk. A white blond creature is not
something that Thai people see very often, so I learned very quickly “suay”
means beautiful in their language. After a short meeting with the Principle we
drove to school in Surin to join other teachers from the region in English
training. That would be interesting if not a small detail that they taught
English grammar speaking Thai, which as I learned later, is a very common
practice in this country. As a results certified English teachers are masters
of grammar rules but aren’t able to speak at all. In the evening I met the rest
of my host family and spent some time reading English with Mint. She is 17
years old, but studies in another school, so we won’t have classes together.
That’s why we use evenings to practice reading, pronunciation & simple
talks. She was very shy at the beginning, but opened up after a few days. She’s
a very sweet and funny girl and reminds me my sister, so I immediately liked
her </span><span abp="179" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="180" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="181" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> I
hope that I’ll motivate her to speak by the end of my stay. <o:p abp="182"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="183" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="457">
<span abp="458" style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<div abp="184" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="748">
<div abp="49">
<div abp="462">
<span abp="463" style="color: white;"><span abp="185" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
next morning we spent again on the teachers’ training. All in all it was a good
experience, I made contacts with a few teachers from other schools. We made a
small tour around Surin with Nok. For lunch we went to an excellent Japanese
restaurant with ‘all you can eat’ service, where I had the perfect opportunity
to try a lot of new dishes. In the middle of each table was a small stove with a
pot filled with hot water, where the guests could prepare their own soup by
adding vegetables and spices of their choice. Interesting idea </span><span abp="186" style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span abp="187" style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span abp="188" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> In the afternoon we visited
Sally, a Belgian girl who started her adventure in Thailand as a volunteer and
decided to move here for a few years to continue teaching. <span abp="189" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span abp="190" style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is
a professional teacher and just graduated before coming here. Together with Nok
and another friend we visited her house – it’s a peaceful place and she seems
to have found her oasis there.<o:p abp="191"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="192" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="757">
<div abp="59">
<div abp="474">
<span abp="475" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="512" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="513" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5G5F9VEftSJUwU9E6BEbqEzSa_MXGwTKJDt8KSVv3dCAe6QsG8H8iGgfnWzbYKxXEYVmR7tYqguWit6X4C2BAoN3PdVNxLS0chrNJCc5ZHKruNdnmiscg1eUUkmgPHltgk0gGK8PoFcB/s1600/DSC05480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="478" style="color: white;"><img abp="514" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5G5F9VEftSJUwU9E6BEbqEzSa_MXGwTKJDt8KSVv3dCAe6QsG8H8iGgfnWzbYKxXEYVmR7tYqguWit6X4C2BAoN3PdVNxLS0chrNJCc5ZHKruNdnmiscg1eUUkmgPHltgk0gGK8PoFcB/s1600/DSC05480.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="193" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="764">
<div abp="68">
<div abp="483">
<span abp="194" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunday
was a family day. Sleep in here means that you’re allowed to stay in bed until
8am… This is quite different from my practice in Belgium, but I adapt as I want
to enjoy every moment I have here. We started the day with picking blue flowers
in front of the house. These flowers are used to give blue color to food and
can be also used to prepare a tea. Together with Pim, Mint and young daughter
of the neighbor we collected them and brought to an uncle living nearby so he
can sell them at a market. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="193" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="767">
<div abp="72">
<div abp="488">
<span abp="194" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">On the picture you can see the blue flowers around and Mint together with me posing in the center.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="193" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="770">
<div abp="76">
<div abp="493">
<span abp="194" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span abp="495" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="193" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="773">
<div abp="80">
<div abp="499">
<span abp="194" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span> </div>
</div>
<div abp="80">
<div abp="502">
<span abp="194" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="504" style="color: white;">The house of the uncle was full of people and
activities. There were a few women cleaning snails, some kids running around
and playing, another aunt giving orders and uncle building bamboo constructions
to catch fishes. There were very welcoming and we took some pictures together –
don’t we look like one family? <o:p abp="195"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="196" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="507">
<span abp="508" style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<div abp="465" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="609" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNl1C8gYhZRG6WJHAiNtbECkEuRjBq5X6RysbByxqIXZGX9_5vNYFk2QAlBWuk6q9JPAcX5GcKZgSqfI9EJ5OlKdtjk0Ju9RobXWBHVSe4vgY6IESxTYE3Lo_nH_q41nJN0Qjbr3aT1wV/s1600/DSC05499.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="511" style="color: white;"><img abp="610" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNl1C8gYhZRG6WJHAiNtbECkEuRjBq5X6RysbByxqIXZGX9_5vNYFk2QAlBWuk6q9JPAcX5GcKZgSqfI9EJ5OlKdtjk0Ju9RobXWBHVSe4vgY6IESxTYE3Lo_nH_q41nJN0Qjbr3aT1wV/s1600/DSC05499.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="465" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span abp="514" style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="468" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="469" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRbhZBB8ftP0EHIYNsN1rapVhafKeqN0Dq_HWCzSc7348GAJLsZMUoK8yvMFQ0zGDCTenCqSVSS9ji6SrjyuxEb1dFIyq9j46-5f6TMxPbnOk73MPJsXsmDrQCAHrEe4MClbYmFIanRNc/s1600/DSC05486.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="517" style="color: white;"><img abp="470" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRbhZBB8ftP0EHIYNsN1rapVhafKeqN0Dq_HWCzSc7348GAJLsZMUoK8yvMFQ0zGDCTenCqSVSS9ji6SrjyuxEb1dFIyq9j46-5f6TMxPbnOk73MPJsXsmDrQCAHrEe4MClbYmFIanRNc/s1600/DSC05486.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="197" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="778">
<div abp="86">
<div abp="522">
<span abp="198" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p abp="199"> </o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="607">
<div abp="785">
<div abp="570" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="571" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2dDlEyviKi2KJuDDtOH0tczpNL6Ts28E3FGiozO0xU7Vo4kFHuIlwGLYfldghfs14-OV5OVyuUUz5zhSfe2Fd3VvIDCRm5RS5QiERVd9GqA_wDUljHZHGF68p9Q1KeMYcBhSb4kX9Pucq/s1600/DSC05489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="529" style="color: white;"><img abp="572" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2dDlEyviKi2KJuDDtOH0tczpNL6Ts28E3FGiozO0xU7Vo4kFHuIlwGLYfldghfs14-OV5OVyuUUz5zhSfe2Fd3VvIDCRm5RS5QiERVd9GqA_wDUljHZHGF68p9Q1KeMYcBhSb4kX9Pucq/s1600/DSC05489.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="94">
<div abp="532">
<span abp="533" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="208" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="535">
<span abp="210" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span> </div>
</div>
<div abp="208" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="538">
<span abp="210" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="540" style="color: white;">Around
midday we went to a local market with Pim and her Mom. Our first stop was a restaurant
where we ate some noodles. I’m still hesitating and not touching any chili, I
still remember how it burned me on my first day and I’m not ready to go back
there… Local market is like a treasure island for a newcomer to this country! Some
of the great discoveries of my first visits are:<o:p abp="211"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="212" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="543">
<span abp="544" style="color: white;"><span abp="214" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span abp="215" style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span abp="216" style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span abp="217" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">dead
frogs – I know that this won’t surprise some people, however I have to say that
the presentation is quite interesting…<o:p abp="218"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="219" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="551">
<span abp="552" style="color: white;"><span abp="221" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span abp="222" style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span abp="223" style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span abp="224" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">dead
rats (cut in half to make it more extreme)<o:p abp="225"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="226" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="559">
<span abp="560" style="color: white;"><span abp="228" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span abp="229" style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span abp="230" style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span abp="231" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">fried
insects<o:p abp="232"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="233" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="567">
<span abp="568" style="color: white;"><span abp="235" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span abp="236" style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span abp="237" style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span abp="238" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">alive
shrimps<o:p abp="239"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="240" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="575">
<span abp="576" style="color: white;"><span abp="242" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span abp="243" style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span abp="244" style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span abp="245" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">coconut
water – wonderful taste, very refreshing<o:p abp="246"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="247" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="583">
<span abp="584" style="color: white;"><span abp="249" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span abp="250" style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span abp="251" style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span abp="252" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">faran
(kind of green apple look alike, but tastes very different)</span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="247" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="590">
<span abp="591" style="color: white;"></span> </div>
</div>
<div abp="119">
<div abp="593">
<span abp="594" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="120" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="121" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrURAP2xrOe5qTmb6cikjouWAIhSGlby76iKmLkn2nlzoJtNmROa6qPbcD4qTDwsrwTy01JvBA8UPkfUkYQx4Dv4XzRj3-T5n6SJG3LEYaTt0KBhGmgw2EhHDVsvrPJo4lqMsVbdzuxUa/s1600/DSC05516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="597" style="color: white;"><img abp="122" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrURAP2xrOe5qTmb6cikjouWAIhSGlby76iKmLkn2nlzoJtNmROa6qPbcD4qTDwsrwTy01JvBA8UPkfUkYQx4Dv4XzRj3-T5n6SJG3LEYaTt0KBhGmgw2EhHDVsvrPJo4lqMsVbdzuxUa/s1600/DSC05516.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="247" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="600">
<span abp="601" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="230" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="231" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgaNmGGPtNUjDvZc3gDi4Db6bhjCCuhgn5PSAYBKMKqQTqaRw8ybPgfDTjJDjWf4vWmpHUm5hIj0Ka8H7gNMfIniI-ODl-5m-hhUTkX2Sis3adAaUghRY2ytrap0Eepb1aQXHgX8eot3m/s1600/DSC05514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="604" style="color: white;"><img abp="232" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgaNmGGPtNUjDvZc3gDi4Db6bhjCCuhgn5PSAYBKMKqQTqaRw8ybPgfDTjJDjWf4vWmpHUm5hIj0Ka8H7gNMfIniI-ODl-5m-hhUTkX2Sis3adAaUghRY2ytrap0Eepb1aQXHgX8eot3m/s1600/DSC05514.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="233">
<div abp="607">
<span abp="608" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="234" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="235" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTbIU_Xy32PvxYEK_WeWOcKxr2pEOQxjBb58-h-aXE6LY8rXMkWn1PWG_z-rTgzESvraKVrOxs3CQVqXE2RZKBF8ySCZiqaIalV3R_aVPwrJ8RcSGXIy5QtipxKaS7Cz5nzPFbusqepMc/s1600/DSC05513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span abp="611" style="color: white;"><img abp="236" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTbIU_Xy32PvxYEK_WeWOcKxr2pEOQxjBb58-h-aXE6LY8rXMkWn1PWG_z-rTgzESvraKVrOxs3CQVqXE2RZKBF8ySCZiqaIalV3R_aVPwrJ8RcSGXIy5QtipxKaS7Cz5nzPFbusqepMc/s1600/DSC05513.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div abp="714">
</div>
<div abp="715" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a abp="716" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7fwtXtlNCM20-G-jedVDlr3IDhyphenhyphenXF7GdyAvyJ-6euLdODZTLDRty1Q2iaSprd8IIwEu2xKl5TKD3Dr-EEwrQiF_Skg_8SjtIugrMvDwaUtdc_Sfjg2oo9SSmPqBJKUVC3eYISzo94FX2/s1600/DSC05515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img abp="717" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7fwtXtlNCM20-G-jedVDlr3IDhyphenhyphenXF7GdyAvyJ-6euLdODZTLDRty1Q2iaSprd8IIwEu2xKl5TKD3Dr-EEwrQiF_Skg_8SjtIugrMvDwaUtdc_Sfjg2oo9SSmPqBJKUVC3eYISzo94FX2/s1600/DSC05515.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div abp="234" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div abp="247" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="617">
<span abp="252" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p abp="253"></o:p></span> </div>
</div>
<div abp="254" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="621">
<span abp="260" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="623" style="color: white;">I
didn’t dare to try any of the weird items, but I might give it a try before
leaving to Belgium. ;) <o:p abp="261"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div abp="262" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="626">
<span abp="627" style="color: white;"></span> </div>
</div>
<div abp="262" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="629">
<span abp="630" style="color: white;"></span> </div>
</div>
<div abp="263" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div abp="865">
<div abp="187">
<div abp="634">
<span abp="264" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span abp="636" style="color: white;">The
rest of the afternoon I spent on preparing a presentation about my country and
my family. I will show it tomorrow during my first lessons. I prepared a lot of
pictures so that the students get attracted to my slides and some simple
greetings in Polish. Tomorrow is my first day at school – exciting!!!<o:p abp="265"></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div abp="540" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span abp="639" style="color: white;"></span> </div>
<div abp="543">
<div abp="641">
<span abp="642" style="color: white;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div abp="266" style="text-align: justify;">
<div abp="644">
<span abp="645" style="color: white;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-65281036618994304222013-11-04T02:33:00.001-08:002013-11-04T02:33:53.251-08:00Fund Isaan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div abp="91" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="233" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="92" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="93" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="234"><span style="color: white;">Fund Isaan is a
non-profit organization established in 2008 and managed by the King Baudouin
Foundation. Fund Isaan started as a corporate social responsibility program at
Deloitte Belgium, a commercial consulting firm. After projects in Indonesia and
Morocco Deloitte Belgium decided in early 2007 to invest in a school building
project in the North East of Thailand, in the province of Surin, near the
border of Cambodja, 450 kilometers away from Bangkok. <o:p abp="235"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="95" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="236" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="96" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="97" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p abp="98"><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div abp="99" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="237" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="100" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="101" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="238"><span style="color: white;">Besides the
construction of a school hall the company sponsored the set-up of a computer
class. During the coordination of the project, the responsible partner, Rony
Wuytjens, was confronted with the many needs of the region. Kids leave school
at a very early age because their parents can’t effort to pay for their
education. They start working in the fields or look for a better paid job in a
big city, often hundreds of kilometers away from home. Most of them end up as
low paid workers for building companies, as maids in rich households or, even
worse, in the sex industry. Language teachers in the region often don’t have
the necessary skills to learn the children a proper pronunciation. The computer
class Deloitte had invested in became a big success, but there were so many
other schools with similar needs. That’s why we decided to set up a legal
structure that could invest in a long term strategy. <o:p abp="239"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="103" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="240" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="104" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="105" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p abp="106"><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div abp="107" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="241" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="108" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="109" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="242"><span style="color: white;">In June 2008 Fund
Isaan was officially established as a fund managed by the King Baudouin
Foundation. Its founder is Mr. Rony Wuytjens, the partner that initiated and
coordinated the above mentioned project for Deloitte. Its president is Mr.
Jocelyn Timmermans, consul for Thailand in Flanders. The King Baudouin
Foundation is represented by Mr. Luc Tayart de Borms, President of the King
Baudouin Foundation. <o:p abp="243"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="111" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="244" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="112" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="113" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><o:p abp="114"><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div abp="115" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="245" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="116" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span abp="117" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="246"><span style="color: white;">The official protocol
stipulates that our aim is to organize and support initiatives in “left behind”
regions in South-East Asia, more specific but not exclusively, in Isaan,
Thailand. The Fund focuses on the improvement of Education and the support of
Micro-economic initiatives. To that purpose the Fund puts volunteers at the
disposal of local schools. Furthermore the fund raises scholarships for
thoroughly selected and screened children and invests in IT solutions. The fund
is allowed to use all means it deems useful to achieve its aim. In accordance
with the philosophy of the King Baudouin Foundation the fund will support
initiatives that aim to achieve a multiplication effect. The fund can act on
its own or together with other organizations.<o:p abp="247"></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div abp="119" style="text-align: justify;">
<span abp="248" style="color: white;">
</span></div>
<div abp="120" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span abp="121" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="249" style="color: white;">(Source: Rony Wuytjens
– Founder)</span></span></div>
<div abp="120" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span abp="121" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="250"><span style="color: white;">For more information you can visit: </span><a abp="252" href="http://www.fund-isaan.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">Fund Isaan</span></a><o:p abp="254"></o:p></span></span></div>
<div abp="120" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span abp="121" style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span abp="250" style="color: white;"><o:p abp="254"></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div abp="123" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;">
</span></div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8590369091693591180.post-41348958288461128982013-11-04T02:25:00.001-08:002013-11-04T05:21:12.920-08:00The idea of volunteering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="color: white;">This blog tells
about my teaching adventure in the Isaan region in Thailand. Thanks to the
support of Fund Isaan and my employer Deloitte I was given the opportunity to
become a volunteer for 6 weeks and help teaching English to children in local
high schools in Thailand. Since the first moment I heard about Fund Isaan
activity I couldn’t stop thinking about it – a project combining my passion for
travelling, foreign cultures and children sounded like a dream job for me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: white;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-themecolor: background1;">On the next posts
of this blog I will do my best to share my impressions and stories with you,
maybe future volunteers to be. </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings; mso-themecolor: background1;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-themecolor: background1;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-themecolor: text2;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><div align="justify" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #a2c4c9; color: black;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"></span></div>
</div>
Paulina Kluczkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13056367223334156851noreply@blogger.com0