T-I-T

Well, I guess I'm just about hitting that culture shock low point right about now, even though I'm still enjoying every last minute here, things seem to be falling apart, literally! My camera's zoom button is stuck, and once I get it moving, it can't stop! So, I wasn't able to take too many pictures of this past weekend.

Jacqueline and I had a pretty terrific weekend together, beginning with girls' night in on Friday, and then a relaxing, late-start Saturday morning/ afternoon, with lunch on Koh Loy Park. We then headed to the Khao Kheo open zoo in Bangpra, just north of Sri Racha. Without expecting much, we were incredibly surprised!! It is huge and beautiful and natural, and more than we could have imagined for Thailand. You must just hear about Jacqueline's Tiger Zoo experience, where in the middle of the jungle, they created fake jungle background drops amidst a cement zoo setting!! However, this open zoo was so huge, that one drives (car or motorbike) from one part to the next!! Because we got there later in the afternoon, and for reasons that we have no idea why, many of the exhibits, including the Cats Complex, were closed. In fact, the whole place (food stalls, etc.) seemed to be kind of closed, which seems odd for a Saturday afternoon. Who knows.... So, we went for a drive around the Bangpra mountains, which was absolutely beautiful, and though I regret not taking photos, I will definitely without a doubt be back. There are so many wonderful things to do in this area that we never even realized or were told of.

Sunday, Jacqueline and I went to The Pattaya Orphanage. Check out the link to the photos from this past weekend (yes, they post photos after every visit!) : http://www.thepattayaorphanage.org/updatenews/20090712_2/index.php?swf=20090712_2&co=e. We enjoyed a lovely pizza lunch in Pattaya, and then after our afternoon visit, we went back for some Subway!! and ate on the beach.

Sunday night - my computer turned on, but nothing appeared on the screen and there are no sounds coming from Kyle, my computer. As of now, my computer has been seen by two different people, one which said it is a hardware problem, the other said: "Your server is fried!" That is certainly no translation issue, but words that no one ever wants to hear!! Tomorrow, I am taking it to another store, where hopefully they can give it another go. If not, then sometime this week, I must go to Chonburi, about 45 minutes north of Sri Racha, and take it to the HP service center. Who knows if this will all even work, and while I have been keeping my 'cool' about it thus far, I might very well have a mini-meltdown about it soon enough!

T-I-T continued... Next week is midterm examination week, and Ms. Bpun had told us three about it a couple weeks ago, before our holiday last week. At first she just told us about the examinations occurring, and then after further questioning, we realized we would not even have classes due to the exams all next week! After Ms. Bpun realized what this meant for us, she agreed that we would just have to come in each day to sign in (Thais are obsessed with sign-in/ sign-out sheets, even when they really mean nothing). However, after H, J and I discussed the pointlessness of coming in to school each morning just to sign in, we agreed to all approach Ms. Bpun nicely and simply ask for the week off, being that we do not have any classes or any work to do. Wouldn't it be nice to have a week off to explore Thailand? So, while we planned to ask her our first two days back from holiday (last Thursday and Friday), Ms. Bpun was sick. Yesterday, Monday, was the first day we saw her back at school, so we met with her during Lunch and nicely put forward the idea. She said she would speak to the director (the principal of Sri Racha school) about us not coming in for the week. Well... we shot ourselves in the foot, so to say. After speaking with the director, Ms. Bpun then informed us that she, the director, actually wants us to be here the whole week and for the entire day, every day! The director said she has work for us! So, the saying goes... be happy with what you have, and don't push it (or something like that). Though, with that being said, we all genuinely thought we had a chance to get the week off, but now instead of just signing in each day, we must come in to do some random work for the director. As of right now, this work is very unclear, but was suggested as something like creating lesson plans for other teachers - what!?!?!?

T-I-T continued... So, today I have two M4 classes (M4/5 and M4/6). M4/5 was right before lunch, and many of the boys (about 15 of them) were missing due to military stuff. I casually asked the Thai English teachers at lunch what this was about, solely out of curiosity more than anything else! And, after some explanation (something like the ROTC), it became slightly clear that I would never see these boys again! Yes, your expression was exactly mine... "what do you mean? I don't get it." Well, so it turns out that every Tuesday, M4 boys must do ROTC stuff for the rest of the semester. So, obviously, I asked, "Well, do I cross their names out?" The reply was "No, they are still in the class, you must just teach them through the girls." What?!?! Well, after some back and forth, the suggestion was put out there that I would teach an extra class at the end of the day for all my Tuesday M4 boys. How do I give them grades if they are never present for speaking and listening tests? How do I give them or return their worksheets? How will they understand the lesson? What is the point in giving them the worksheets or tests if they are never even there for the lesson? Well, to say the least, I could feel my veins surging with frustration, so I decided to leave it at that, which is nowhere. As of right now, I must hand in midterm grades for all of them next week, but the boys will have missed the listening exam. Who knows.... ughhhh. Plus, what if I had never even bothered to ask about the missing boys? Would anyone have told me? Probably not... and I suppose "what if" scenarios are useless at this point anyway.

Swine Flu - well, I'm not sure what the US news is sharing about Swine Flu in Asia, or in Thailand, specifically. But, so far, quite a few of the government schools (where our friends teach) throughout Thailand have been closed for some days here and there due to swine flu. Sri Racha School has remained open, and in fact, had a health talk a couple weeks ago regarding the health safety of students. Some health official came to school today, and pulled out M1s, M2s and M3s from their morning classes (of course without our knowledge) to discuss swine flu. But, no one tells us anything! More and more people, including students, everyday are wearing the face masks, and when we ask other tennants in our apartment building, they say it is getting worse. Apparently, according to a couple of different sources, Thailand's government is seriously considering closing all government schools because of swine flu. How long? Really, like we have any idea? This could be all talk, or this could be very serious, and we all might be out of a job soon. But, we'll just have to wait and see. Jacqueline and I were just talking tonight about how it really is only a matter of days now before our school closes, at least for a few days, due to swine flu.

So, that's my T-I-T news for now...