Birthday Party in Thailand.

The other night we were invited out for a surprise birthday party. When we arrived at the restaurant but we were surprised to find it all dark and not open. My mate Keith made a quick call to the birthday girl’s husband and we were directed to a new place just down the road.

This new restaurant has just opened.

It is very retro and colourful.

Inside the small room are a few tables, a TV and an area for a band.

Here are a few of the gang. My mate John was playing hide and seek. From front to back; Keith, Ta, Sarah, Da, X and John.

It is the huge outside area that is where people sit and eat, inside would be for when it rains and then it wouldn’t fit many people.

These are Sarah’s nails. The girl who works for their business and has lived with them for many years and is more like a daughter than a worker did a course and learnt how to do this. Pretty artistic and took about an hour and a half to do.

We were having too much fun and I forgot to take the food pictures, well I missed a few early dishes. This is the staple Thai spicy prawn soup.

This was marinated pork and was the best I had tasted in a long time.

I huge serve of fried rice, we had two of these; well every dish there was two of like Noah’s Ark. There were 10 of us but enough food for that many more.

This was meant to be duck; it did have duck but also come with processed fish balls, hotdog, squid and noodles. It was really weird and the worst dish that was ordered.

My favourite was this curry prawn dish, really good. We had so many more dishes than shown.

The important part of the evening came, the cakes were brought out.

Yes, we had two cakes. One from John and the other from Da’s son X.

It was time for Da to blow out the candle, it was a little windy.

The birthday girl dished out the cake, there was plenty for all.

This was my first piece of cake; the little bear was a pure sugar fix. I had three pieces of cake. Well, it could have been four, not too sure.

I took a lot more pictures and you can see them all at my Flickr account. Just click on a picture to take you there.

So thanks to John for the invitation, it was a great night with good friends.

Brunty

Thai school fun and food, Thailand.

Well day two came and went for school. We are still plagued with internet problems. This has been going on for so, so long and is such a frustrating thing. We hardly ever have the internet working in the computer room and sometimes one computer will work albeit slowly, extremely slowly.

There are 12 computers and I cannot remember when all 12 worked, I cannot remember when two worked at the same time. Our computer guy is always coming and fixing the so called problem, this lasts a few hours if we are lucky before it all crashes again. The other absolutely pain in the ass thing is the printer hardly ever works. It somehow uninstalls itself and then it is reinstalled but as fast as you do this, it goes again.

When you are searching for flashcards, worksheets and so forth it is just impossible to prepare for classes properly. For a time I was very happy as the wireless worked and I could work from my desk with my laptop, it was really fast and I would save whatever I needed to my memory stick and then print. For the last 6 weeks the wireless also went to shit. It disappeared. Today I was informed that it had broken and was being sent back to Bangkok, as it is under warranty. Why this needs to go to Bangkok I cannot understand as there are plenty of internet technicians here in Ubon who could install a wireless system and then also maintain it.

I cannot make flashcards or extra worksheets; I will not do this at home. I would have at one time but not now. My kids are missing out because the school cannot get its act together to install a good internet system. There is so much money that is spent on the exterior of the school, while internally many things need addressing.

Anyway, I went for a walk at lunchtime to see what the kids were getting up to.

The only kids on the oval, in the sun were having fun.

Some boys were playing table tennis.

There were a lot of kids in the playground area that is shaded by huge trees.

Here year 1 students were balancing the seesaw by using sand.

Here some year 1 boys are in a tree.

These students were playing keepings off with a small ball.

And they liked to pose

And a year 1 boy being a monkey in a tree, I told him to be careful and this was just met with a huge grin.

At home Miss Noot was in the kitchen.

A delicious vegetable and pork dish.

This chicken and curry soup was scrumptious.

And an omelette was also served.

This is just another amazing and easy three course meal that the fabulous Miss Noot knocked up effortlessly. I am a lucky man I can tell you.

To see any pictures in large sizes just click on them and you will go to my Flickr account.

Brunty

First day semster 2, Thai school.

Today was the first day of semester 2 at school. Thai schools went back at different times and now we have 20 weeks left until we get a 2 month holiday. These twenty weeks go pretty quickly with public holidays, Christmas and also New Years holidays as well.

The day started like every other day for the past 3 years with students lining up and singing the Thai National Anthem and then the school song. The morning prayer was repeated, then students were offered some words of wisdom for this semester by some teachers.

My older classes we reviewed their exams part by part and the students’ queried any marks or any questions they had. Sadly not many did this and most didn’t seem to care. Even the students who were told they needed to retest as they had failed their exam weren’t showing too much interest. So be it, I can only offer my help and guidance and cannot force it down their throats.

The day went pretty quickly, I started to organize the dreaded paperwork. It is better to get on top of it all now so that at the end of the month it takes a few minutes to fill out and hand into administration. Paperwork sadly now takes up too much of my time and cuts into my lesson planning and preparation. Making flashcards and extra worksheets is becoming more challenging as I do not spend any extra time at the school than I am paid for. I do spend an hour a day, every morning I arrive at work an hour before sign in to complete my lesson reports. That is 5 hours a week that I don’t get paid for, that is more than enough.

Yes, this may sound greedy, but if you give an inch before you know it, they inches turn into feet. Don’t think I am not giving 100% for my kids, I do. I give 110% to make the lessons interesting and also as fun as can be. I use as many materials as I can to make learning interactive, I never stand before a class and speak for minutes on end as it kills a class. In any job there comes a time where you have to stop and think about what you are putting in and getting out of it.

It isn’t always serious in the teacher’s staff room. Here some teachers are striking a pose.

Here I am not sure what band they could be trying to imitate. Does anybody know?

In the afternoon assembly, students ran to the far side of the footsal court as there was sunshine where they usually line up.

Thais are petrified of the sun, especially girls. Girls are terrified that their skin will go pitch black in the few minutes they might have to be in the sun. Books, paper, bags or anything else available will be used as a sun block, to stop the evil rays of sun penetrating their precious olive looking skin.

Anyway, that was the first day of school. I got through it and it means only 99 days left until the end of the semester, I’m not counting or anything. Anyway I must go as I have some more editing to do on many of the wedding pictures I took and then have to burn them to CD for the bride. Time is of the essence.

Brunty

A Wedding in Isaan, Thailand

I was invited to my friend’s wedding; Rachek is a past teacher of our school and is now living 400 kilometres away teaching at a new school. Her now husband Nueng ( I thought it was spelt Nung but was corrected by one of his family members) was the reason for the move as he is a manager in a very popular restaurant.

Anyway, the celebrant or usually a village elder was waiting for the auspicious time; this is decided by usually a head monk or abbot and also usually the date and even colour of the outfits can be passed on. This wedding was to begin at 9:09 on the dot.

The wedding started under the guidance of the celebrant.

Here the string on their head connects the couple as one.

Here the couple are lighting the candle and incense sticks.

There is a lot of chanting of sorts. It takes a little while to perform.

Then comes the time to tie little strings on the couples wrists, these are called “sai sin” and the parents and VIP guests go first and then everyone else can take turns. When you do this you stroke the wrist a few times before tying the string on. Usually money is looped on the string as well.

The happily married couple, Miss Noot and the Beast.

And again, the married couple, Miss Noot and the Beast.

The evening dinner was about having fun, after the speeches it was time for fun.

Here Nueng is belting out a tune, and truthfully the guy can sing really well.

The karaoke singing got hot and up jumped the dancers in the crowd.

Here Nueng had sung a beautiful song and his lovely bride Rachel rewards him with a kiss and flower.

Here the happy couple are on the dance floor.

The very talented and beautiful Miss Noot.

It was a great day and a lot of fun. From Noot and me, we wish Rachel and Nueng a very long and happy life together and hope that it is prosperous and their future is blessed with whatever they seek out to do.

Brunty

Otop Festival Tak, Thailand.

Today Noot and I ventured to Rajabhat University where there is another Otop festival being held in one of their halls.

An Otop festival is meant to showcase the best products of a certain province or region, this festival was from Tak.

This is what the set up looked like inside the hall.

Here are cats, rhinos, elephants and much more on show.

There was a tonne of jewelry on show. There were many stalls with all sorts of coloured stones. A girl had to have found something she liked here, there were rings, necklaces, earrings, anklets and so much more.

The artificial flowers were really beautiful.

They looked good and were cheap too.

Noot was looking at some hair ties, well you put the timber skewer through your hair and it keeps your hair in place, somehow.

There were some really nice water features or fountains.

The peacock carving was really beautiful and the desks were really well made and looked fantastic.

These lamps were Noot’s favourites. You can see a man sitting at the table, he wraps cotton thread around the lamp base and that is how the effect is made. That of course is a very basic description as it is obviously a lot more work than that.

Here are some of the lamps hanging on display. I asked Noot which one she wanted to buy but she shook her head.

So that was Otop Tak festival, there were many products that I didn’t show like clothes, bags, bits and pieces and so forth. Most of these products you can purchase around Ubon anyway but there were a few things I hadn’t seen before.

See life is exciting in Isaan Thailand.

Brunty