Thai School Ceremony, Isaan Thailand.

On Monday we had some of our kindergarten students at our morning assembly. This can only mean one thing, and that is a ceremony of some sorts. The little students were having fun being at the grown ups assembly.


Our two Brothers were standing at the base of our flag pole. They were waiting patiently for everything to begin.

There were a handful of important guests on hand as well.

It was nearly time for the gift giving to start, here the kindergarten representatives wait to offer their gift to the Brothers.

There was a line of people waiting to offer gifts to the Brothers, a few of our foreign teachers waited anxiously in line.

Some of the Thai teachers waiting were very happy to have their picture taken holding their gifts.

And there were some senior students also bearing gifts.

Our foreign teachers looked relaxed, I am sure they were a bundle of nerves though underneath their cool exposures.

Brother Sakda.

Brother, (Forgot his nickname, sorry)

Brother Sakda.

It was finally time for the gift giving and the VIP guests started the ball rolling.

When the small kindergarten girl gave her gift to Brother Sakda, she unexpectedly gave him a big long hug.

Then some small primary 1 students had their turn.

Then our two foreign teacher representatives took to the limelight and they did a spectacular job.

All the time the students sat patiently watching the proceedings with interest.

And after it was all done the Brother Sakda addressed the students with a short speech and the ceremony was over.

Oh, what was the ceremony about, you ask?

It was Feast Day; I have a broad idea about what this is all about when I researched it a few years ago. Many people acquire baptismal or confirmational names from the saint associated with their date of birth, so Feast Day marks the "name day" of the saint whose name they bear with special attention.
I found a website that has all the Saints names for all the months of the year. Now if this is the case we have held this day on different dates in June each year. So I am not sure if Brother celebrates this day on the 29th, 26th or so on.

Anyway, I am sure there is a good devote Catholic reader out there who can inform us much more clearly if need be about the day.

Brunty.

You Know Andrew Biggs? Isaan Thailand

When I first came to Thailand over 4 years ago to live, I moved to the lovely Isaan area of Ubon Ratchathani. Ubon is sleepy but is quite a big city and you can get virtually anything you need. I have the best of both worlds.

After arriving in Ubon and making my way about the place and meeting many of the lovely Isaan inhabitants, I would occasionally be asked, my name, where I was from, how old I was, if I had a girlfriend. These were the standard questions.

But there was one question that always used to throw me. “Do you know Andrew Biggs?” But when Thais said it, “Do you know Andew Bick?” Now even if they had asked the question correctly and pronounced his name right, it wouldn’t have helped.

If you Google, ‘Andrew Biggs Thailand,’ there are just under 50,000 page results. The man even has a Wikipedia page be it brief, he still has one.

The first time I was asked if I knew Andrew Biggs, I thought he must be a famous local guy. Then it would be charades, he is on TV, no hair, and on it went. Now all this was going on in Thai and broken English. 99% of the time I thought these people were a little insane. In the end I would nod politely and say, “Oh, Andrew, on TV. Yes, he good man.” Then I would quickly run away.

Then one night I was sitting and watching Thai TV with Miss Noot and on come a programme called English Minute, it was a foreigner (farang as we are known) with some kids doing a small English skit. It would present a small phrase in English and then explained in Thai. It was really clever.

I asked Miss Noot, who is the farang? That is Andrew Big (Biggs). Oh, that is the Andrew Biggs people always ask me about.

I asked Miss Noot, ‘Is he famous in Thailand?’ ‘Yes, he is,’ she replied.

So I finally knew who Andrew Biggs was, well I could put a face to his name now. Then over the years I found out how popular he was. He was hosting a morning show on TV, in movies, on radio, and of course a successful author and the creme de la creme a few guest appearances on a Thai TV soap or drama.

When I first actually researched who he was, I found many people bagging the guy in forums across Thailand. I am pretty sure most of these people didn’t know the guy from a bar of soap but bagged him because of the persona they had seen on TV or what he had written in his newspaper articles.

After reading so many people bagging him I thought maybe he was a bit of a tool. But then I read what the guy has achieved in Thailand since moving here.

If you want to get a brief history on how Andrew came to learn Thai so well, there are two articles he wrote in two parts which are really well written and entertaining. Here are the links for Ramkhamhaeng University secrets part 1 and Ramkhamhaeng University secrets part 2. I recommend these two articles, the are humourous.

Andrew has won some very prestigious awards; in 2005 he received the prestigious Phetch Siam Award for excellence in using the Thai language, the first Westerner to receive the award.

In July 2007 on Thai Language Day, the Thai Government's Ministry of Culture awarded him Excellent User of the Thai Language. It was the first time the award had been given to a foreigner.

Now, I don’t care what you say, you do not get recognition like this unless you are doing something right. So I shelved all those negative comments and put them down to the tall poppy syndrome. Just some expats, who were being tossers and shooting their mouths off at a guy who has succeeded in Thailand.

Andrew writes a blog andrewbiggs.com/blog2/ that he updates as often as he can being the busy man he is. There are some very interesting reads there. Last year he spoke about running a marathon and then blogged about his training and then the aftermath of the Bangkok Marathon. I gave him huge Kudos for running a marathon and the post is an excellent read on his experiences during the race.

This is a funny read on a Thai taxi driver who asked Andrew, Whose side he was on in the political debacle that was going on a while back. He writes about many things, really whatever is on his mind.

He wrote this article in the Bangkok post called, Sex in the Classroom and it is a really funny story. It goes over some of the small pronunciation problems Thais have.

Andrew Biggs Academy, is a popular extra curricular school he has opened. It teaches students from kindergarten to adults. There are also Thai classes for expats on offer as well.

Anyway after all these years, today I finally met the man. It was very briefly as he was busy. He was at Sunee Grand Hotel for an English Reading Marathon, this is what the flyers said that were circulated weeks before the day.

I wanted to get there about 10:30am but as things happen, I arrived late, just after lunchtime. Andrew had finished his morning presentation and was being whisked off to have some lunch before returning to judge a speech contest.



It had taken Andrew 50 minutes to walk from the 4th floor convention rooms to the van waiting for him. He had a crowd gathered around him as he looked at some stalls. He is seen as a star in Thailand, and in Ubon he would be elevated to superstar. He was very politely chatting to people, signing autographs and of course being in many photos.

I started to chat to the owner of the Toyota dealership here in Ubon. He has three sons who go to Assumption College; He was part of the lunch party and taking Andrew for lunch and invited me to tag along. This was incredibly generous and a genuine offer but I very politely declined as I hadn’t even met Andrew at that time and thought it would have been a little rude jumping in the van with them.

Anyway, I then had a chance to chat to Andrew. The first thing I said, “You are a lot taller than I thought.” He said that people always say this. The guy is 186cms tall.

What a stupid thing to say to the guy straight up, hey? From seeing him on TV I thought he was a little dumpy. I was wrong and he did say that he has been back exercising again after his marathon triumph.

We spoke for maybe 3 minutes, and all I can say is the guy was a champ. He seemed very genuine and I enjoyed the brief encounter. I wish I had enough time to do a small interview with him. We spoke about nothing over exciting. It was just two Aussies chatting.

He went off to lunch and I made my way to the speech contest area. There was a contest on and a few of our students from Assumption were competing. I was there to offer some support to them. Andrew returned a little late from his lunch date and the contest started.

I will blog on this in the next few days.

Brunty

P.S. Has anyone else met Andrew Biggs, and if you have. How did you find the man, the persona, the superstar?

Sunthorn Phu Day Thailand 2009

On Friday we had a ceremony in the morning to celebrate Sunthorn Phu Day. Sunthorn Phu is considered one of Thailand’s greatest poets. I wrote a more in depth post on this day and about this man in a blog 2 years ago and can read that by clicking here if you want to know more about the man.

On this day the Thai teachers are encouraged to wear their best Thai dress and this means expensive Thai silk outfits. Here are a few of the teachers who looked dazzling.

All was nearly ready to start the ceremony and pay respect and remember Sunthorn Phu.

Our school Director, Brother Sakda took to the base of our flagpole to pay his respect to the dead poet.

Brother Sakda placed a flower garland at the base of the remembrance shrine that had been set up.

Brother then read out a short speech to the poet. What it exactly said, I have no idea.

Then a few of the Thai teachers said a few brief words.

Then a young and brave student, who had been luckily chosen from the few thousand, read one of Sunthorn Phu’s poems.

And this is a picture of Sunthorn Phu. It is of his statue that is situated Ban Kram, the supposed birthplace of his father, in Klaeng District. Or this is close to Rayong.

The Thai teachers then paid their respects by offering a Thai Wai and flower garland.

Here is one of the Thai teachers, in a respectful bow just before placing her flower garland on the shrine.

And here another teacher is paying her respect to Sunthorn Phu.

So that was just some of the excitement for my Friday morning before starting my hard day of work.

Brunty

Speech Contests and My Thai Niece. Thailand.

I haven’t written for a while, I have been busy every afternoon with my lovely little niece Nong Ja. I have had the privilege of looking after her each afternoon.

When I arrive home Nong Ja has been sitting in the house with her mum waiting for me to get home. Tomorrow being Friday Ja is off to Bangkok for 3 or 4 months to live with her dad’s parents.

I was not happy with this arrangement but she isn’t my daughter but I hope the time goes very quickly. So every afternoon has been filled with being stupid, going for small walks and even sleeping which I have really enjoyed.

One thing she likes to do is change the TV channels with the remote control. She giggles away when I pretend to be angry and make funny faces at her for doing so. It is a classic watching her push the buttons and when she sees the channel change the cheeky grin she gives you, just waiting for you to go crazy.

The other night Joom and Ben were singing and dancing, this happens a lot and Nong Ja wanted in. It was hilarious watching her shake, clap her hands and scream as the girls did their thing. I have video footage of this and just need to edit it and then upload it to the blog. It is cute and also funny.

Each night Jack and Joom pick her up around 9.30pm after they close their shop. I am going to miss not seeing her. I am hoping to go to the airport in the morning at 6.30am to see her and Joom off.

Apart from that all is well, work is going well. My classes have all settled down as we have all the ground rules firmly in place. Some other teachers haven’t been as lucky, this could be for a number of reasons.

I and a few other teachers have now taken the responsibility of working on a discipline system or Behaviour Management. We are hoping that the system will make it easier for these teachers and also set concrete rules for what is considered acceptable behaviour and work ethic.

We have had one of the newest teachers resign; this is because of a number of issues. We are now looking for a math teacher who is very flexible, relaxed and can mould to the Thai education system which can be very testing if you let it.

I have a very busy weekend ahead, there is Book fair of sorts taking place at Sunee Grand Hotel and I will be attending as we have students from our school in what is called a “speech contest” but is no such thing.

I really hate these so called speech contests. Students are given the topics well ahead of the contest, sometimes there could be as many as ten topics. What happens next is bordering on ludicrous.

Thai teachers then write speeches for all the topics and the students partaking in the contest then needs to memorise all of them. Yes, all ten speeches.

I hate this as it is what the Thai school system is full of, rote learning. The children don’t actually get to input their own ideas even. Some of the words that are used in speeches by tiny little kids I have no idea what the meanings of them are.

I was stupidly asked once to judge one of these competitions and I don’t think they were expecting me to do anything but smile and nod.

When a student finished a speech I asked questions, one small student spoke about sustainable farming and the speech was very good and well memorised but she had no idea what the content meant. I asked some simple questions about the speech that she couldn’t answer.

In her speech she said, “Villagers grow many things so they don’t have to buy them at markets.” I asked her and it was even translated into Thai, ‘what were some of the crops or products that villagers used for self sustainability?’

She started to answer in Thai and I asked for her to do so in English as it was an English speech contest. After a few students’ speeches I was informed that I didn’t need to ask questions, I then informed them that I did need to ask them questions.

For some reason I have never been asked to judge a contest again. These speech contests should simply be the students turn up and the topics are revealed just before the competition, having Thai students think on their feet is not something done.

Nearly everything that is done in Thailand has to be rehearsed to death; it can be so frustrating for foreigners. If we could get schools to implement half the effort that goes into rehearsals for ceremonies and other such things into the work ethic of the students, the Thai education system would not be joked about as it is now in forums across Thailand.

I will go to the speech competition but am keen to see the English reading marathon and also the English books that will be available as here in Ubon Rathcthani we are not blessed with such an amazing range.

So that is a little of what has been happening the last few days, also I have spent many hours studying Thai each day. I have already done 2 hours today but still have maybe another hour or more to go and must get back to this now.

Brunty

Studying Thai and My Thai Niece, Thailand.

I haven’t had a lot to blog about of late. I have been busy working, teaching extra classes on weekends takes up most of my Saturday and Sunday mornings are free to relax and sleep in and in the afternoon a few more classes.

I have been studying Thai around 2 hours each day; it is enjoying, but also very frustrating at times as well. Actually learning to read Thai has been the best thing I have taken on. Before when I looked at written Thai I had no idea where a word started or finished. I had no idea on how the vowels worked.

Thai is written as one long line with no gaps between words. Now I can pick words out and read them, albeit slowly. It is going to be a long time before I can read with any sort of fluency but I am on the right road now.

Last week I was informed that my niece Nong Ja is going to Bangkok for 4 months. Jack and Joom are taking her to Jack’s parent’s house and will then return to Ubon. When I asked Joom why they were doing this I got a few answers that were pretty piss poor.

Joom said, “A holiday.” When I asked why for 4 months she replied, “She needed a holiday and was tired.” Well I can tell you I was red, bright red and I let her have it.

I will not go into details but in a very brief summary I told her that she had been a poor mother to date, she needed to wake up to herself and start being a parent.

I gave her the whole, having a child is not something you just give back and forward when you are tired or bored. Sadly having a baby is a 24hr a day job and she has never been committed to this.

When we look after Ja we treat like our own child, we cook for her. We cook real vegetables for her and she loves them. Joom cooked a few times but the last few months I have never seen a container of freshly cooked vegetables.

All Ja’s meals that Joom brings for her are bought from food stalls and consist of fried rice, rice soup, noodle dishes and so forth. The additives in them I would not even wish to start to guess at.

Joom’s patience with Ja is short. Thinking a 1 year old can entertain herself while she watches TV or sings karaoke just isn’t going to happen too often. I could go on and on.

When I used to watch the girls chew food up and then put it into Ja’s mouth I was disgusted but when I said this, it was always, ‘This is Thailand.’

When you broach these things you are always met with shock and the phrase, “this is Thailand not from Farang land.”

So I haven’t seen Joom or Jack for a few days, not since I got right up them. This doesn’t worry me in the least. I couldn’t care if I didn’t see them ever again but it is Ja who I worry about.

Jack’s mum and dad are lovely people; I have had the pleasure of meeting them many times when they holiday here in Isaan. They already look after a grandson. Their daughter had a baby and they look after him for the daughter and husband who live here in Ubon Ratchathani. He comes to Ubon to see his mum and dad 4 or 5 times a year and they do travel to Bangkok to see him. In Thailand this is just such a normal thing for young parents to do.

Young Thai parents offload there children to their mum and dad, or grandpa and grandma or even relatives and then go about their daily lives. Some are lucky to actually see their kids a few times a year.

Many people who have been to a rural Thai village would have noticed many young kids about the village but mainly girls 16-30’s are absent. They are usually off working and their children are being brought up by family.

I am not really one who can judge, I was not the model father;
I was a young parent and made many mistakes, I didn’t grow up quick enough and in the end it cost me the relationship and sadly my son. I became a parent at 23 with a girl who was 26. She was mature and a smart girl who became an amazing mother to our son.

I on the other hand was an idiot and still one of the boys, going out, drinking and partying and the worst gambling, this eventually cost me the relationship.

The old if you could go back and change things line: Would I go back and change things? No, I wouldn’t.

I wish I had spent more time with my son and also had grown up and been a father but I didn’t and that is the past, and it paved the road to where I am today. Life is full of twists and turns, ups and downs and you just have to get on with it.

I just don’t want Jack and Joom to have any regrets, if Ja goes to Bangkok for 4 months they will miss so much of her early development. I also worry that when the so called 4 months are up, this holiday will be extended.

All this isn’t really my worry as Ja isn’t my daughter, but I think of her as one. I think I am trying to make Joom and Jack understand that they will not be able to get these months back. They will miss things that can never be replaced.

It is funny as I was sitting here writing this blog I heard the familiar noise of Joom’s shoes clicking on our concrete driveway, I walk out to the lounge room and here is Ja, Joom and Jack. I wasn’t informed they were coming and I simply asked, “Is she staying the night?”

No, she wasn’t.She was only staying until about 9:30pm when Jack closes his shop up and then she will go home. So that meant I had to leave this story for a few hours, but I didn’t mind at all. I got the camera out for some quick pictures.

We went for a ride on the motorbike to Big C shopping Centre and walked around the shop, she loves shopping and then off to the food stalls to buy a snack. We arrived home, fooled about for ten minutes and then Ja was tired and needed a short nap. She has stolen one of Noot’s gifts from my mum. Mum sent a koala bear as a present and Ja now makes it hers when she stays over. She bites it, shakes it, talks to it and sleeps with it.

When she awoke it was off for a warm bath and to play with her toys. Her mum and dad then arrived a little earlier than expected and she has now gone home.

The good news is that she isn’t going to Bangkok, tomorrow. She mightn’t be going until Thursday or Friday. I will wait and see.

Brunty

Wai Khru Day Isaan Thailand 2009

I had reported on our Wai Khruu Day or pay respect to teachers here in Isaan Thailand. I have blogged about making our way to our destination where the ceremony was being held and also the full practice ceremony that was taking place.

Finally after an hour and a half of practice, the real ceremony started. I was well away from the hall and heard the Assumption School song and quickly made my way back to find Brother Sadka doing the opening rituals.

There were senior teachers, past and present on the stage and some VIP guests.

There were more VIP guests on hand.

Also VIP parents, or parents with nothing else to do and had time to attend the ceremony.

The students stood and repeated a prayer.

The stage.

Some senior dux students then paid their respects to our Brothers.

Then some of the VIP guests paid respect to there past and current teachers. This was very pleasing to see. This was humbling to see people who have a lot of respect and also power because of their status showing this side of themselves.

Assumption is 50 years old and former students who are now successful have returned to show their respect to their old teachers.

The Sunee Grand Hotel Convention Hall.

The students in a low and respectful bow.

It was finally time for students to offer the flowers to their homeroom teachers.

Each Class pools their money; some classes spend lots, a few thousand Baht for their offering.

The designs vary greatly depending on the chosen pupil of each class who is in charge of making the purchase or some even make their own offering. Each small flower on this offering is pinned into a foam base. That is a lot of pins.

This was my favourite, it looked so beautiful, the student or students who chose it did very well.

A student is paying respect to his teacher before offering her his gift.

An EBP teacher with her flower gift.

I thought that this would now bring the ceremony to a close and the Thai dancers would come out and finish the show. I was wrong, there was still plenty to do I found out but will blog on this another time.

Brunty

Thai Dancing And a Persistent Mother, Isaan Thailand.

Last week I wrote about our school having its Wai Khru Day or when students pay their respects to teachers across Thailand.

We had gone to the Sunee Grand Hotel to the conference centre to hold this ceremony and after students had been through an hours practice I had made my way out of the room.

Outside were some of our school’s Thai dancers, they were rehearsing their dance for the ceremony.

A dancer and one of the dance teachers, the students will compete throughout the year in competitions across Isaan and Thailand.

When you watch Thai dance with all the small gestures and the way fingers have to be bent and so forth, it is a very intricate dance style.

The elaborate headdress designs are only made of plastic but are impressive. They are pinned into place by using hair clips to stop them from moving.

The Thai silk outfits are stunning; the poor girls not only go through hours of hair and make up but then have to be wrapped into their dress. Ben, Miss Noot’s younger sister has danced many times like this and one time after being wrapped in her outfit for such a long time she needed to go to the toilet but this was near impossible and the teacher was really angry as it meant being redressed again which is quite an effort.

The girls look so beautiful and graceful when they dance.

And the girls kept practicing while we were waiting for the real ceremony to start. Inside the room the practice run-through was still taking place.

I blogged about a mother of a primary 1 student and how I thought she was being over protective and then wrote about when we finally told her that she had to stop over parenting her young son.

A really quick briefing if you are new to the blog. A small primary 1 boy had his mum sitting outside the classroom for 3 weeks after school reopened for the new school year. Eventually she was told she couldn’t sit outside the class anymore and she stopped.

She then sat in the school library, but this was well away from her son (Y) and he was fine in class and was doing well or so we thought.

Now Y hasn’t been in class since Thursday last week. Today I enquired with the homeroom teacher if she had heard from the mother. I thought Y must be sick.

What the homeroom teacher told me left me absolutely gob smacked. I was really shocked, bewildered and dumfounded that this mother could be so silly.

The homeroom teacher said that Y’s mother had said she had enrolled him in a new school. She had paid the fees and then after 2 days they also told her she was not allowed to stay at the new school anymore.

So now she has her son at home, claiming he is not ready for school yet, he might be ready in a few days, weeks or months. I then told her that he will not set foot back in the classroom if he misses much more class, that is if he returns, and in no way, no matter what acts, sob stories she pulls will she sit at the school.

I feel so sorry for the boy, I can tell you 100 % that he was fine and functioned as a normal student those few days he was by himself. He did his work, answered questions and participated in class activities. He didn’t cry once or misbehave.

I personally believe and this is not a professional opinion but just my own that Y’s mum has a problem. She is the one who needs to be helped and maybe needs to seek advice from a specialist.

I would love to see Y back in my class this week, if he missed all next week he would really be on the edge of being too far behind his friends then and would not be able to integrate back into the class.

It is only primary 1 but the students learn so quickly and we have a big curriculum to get through. New topics are presented every few days, although basic the importance of continuity in later chapters of their English book. Chapters tie into each other and if he misses too much class it will be near impossible for him to understand what is happening around him.

Anyway, this is just a small look into teaching in Thailand.

Brunty

P.S Owen you imbecile, leave a return link when you comment, and I would love to discuss more with you your thoughts, but I am sure the yellow streak running down your back is deeply ingrained in that spine of yours.

Nothing worse than a gutless coward with a big mouth.

Golf in Ubon Ratchathani, Isaan Thailand.

Last Sunday I finally took some time out for myself, I went to my local golf club which I used to be a member of. It was so good to see the putting green again after many months.

I hadn’t touched a golf club for so long and had hit a bucket of golf balls on the driving range. Many shots were thin and not pretty but it felt so good to be swinging a club again.

This is the first tee, a big dog-leg left par 4. I hit a 6 iron off the tee to the corner and I was happy as this is an easy way to start back.

I was playing with some junior golfers, and also students from my school. This is Oat and has a lot of talent but doesn’t have any golf management skills as yet. I have my game of golf mapped out before I step on the first tee. I have each hole pictured in my mind how I want to play it and also where I want to miss a shot, if that happens. When I was his age I was exactly the same.

Miss Aim is new to golf, only been playing for about a year. She has a lot of work to do still especially on the basics but can hit a really long ball off the tee. She over swings but I am sure with time her golf professional will iron her swing out.

This is the second a par 3 of 165 yards.

The last in the group is Oat, this is him hitting off the 2nd tee and I can tell you he landed safely on the green. I played with Oan and Oat when they had first started out in golf a few years ago and Oat has improved remarkably. He thinks really well for such a young golfer and makes decisions beyond his years. I believe he can be more than the social golfer with more effort and dedication.

Miss Aim with a lovely long follow through but a very closed golf club face.

The 2nd green, there are two balls on the green, Oat and mine. I started out par, par and was really surprised at this.

The 3rd is a long par 5; I played two nice shots to be 120 yards out for two shots and then took another 4 to get into the hole for my first bogey.

This is the longest hole on the course, the 5th. I duffed my drive and it took me 5 shots to get onto the green and luckily I had one putt from 10 feet for a bogey.

One of my favourite holes, it is a short par 4 but with out of bounds right and a lateral water hazard all the way down the left. I hit a 6 iron off the tee.

I ended up in the bunker; I hit an 8 iron and landed short of the pin on the green. I then managed to 2 putt for a par.

This is the 7th hole and has a dam 200 yards off the tee and 260 yards to carry over it. This isn’t hard to do but the fairway narrows a lot and the risks outweigh the smart idea of laying up and hitting a wedge into the green. Here Oat has hit an iron and is very upright with his follow through.

Oan took the driver and if you look at him just after impact it isn’t text book stuff. He made it over the dam but it was an ugly hook. He made par like Oat and me.

I hit an iron off the tee and had this lovely little shot in, an easy wedge that I managed to put onto the dance floor to about 8 feet but couldn’t drain the putt.

I love to play golf. I think it is one of the best games to ever be invented. It is such a challenging sport and also frustrating. I was lucky to have my father introduce me to golf when I was very young.

I played golf every spare hour I had when I was young. Golf is a game that takes a lot of practice and also a lot of natural talent as well. In my younger years I had a terrible temper and broke many a club through frustration and stupidity.

It wasn’t until I was in my mid twenties I finally stopped breaking clubs and getting so stupidly angry and started to actually play the game of golf as it should be played. Golf is a game of you against the golf course and nothing else.

I can tell you that many golf courses have broken my spirit. By the time I was in my early twenties I was a 1 handicapper and played golf every day. I practiced hard, usually two hours or more each evening but my temper was still my biggest handicap.

When I was younger one hole could have blown an entire round, I could have been even par, or under par and then had a bad hole, maybe a bogey or at worst a double bogey and I would lose it, go berserk and from there the round would fall apart.

For me anything over par was not a good round of golf, I would scrutinize myself even if I shot a par 72. I would be angry at a bad putt, short chip, wide approach and so on. I would let these things eat at me. I grew to hate golf the very game I loved.

I ended up giving the game away, quit my golf club which I represented and was looked after to play for. Our A Grade pennant team was a pleasure to play for. The oldest guy on the team was 30 and he played off a handicap of +2, and then I was the highest handicapper off 1. One time we played in an Ambrose event at Cairns Golf Club and shot a 60 off the stick, 12 under par. I can still remember the round we played together shot by shot and that was 14 years ago.

I have shot under par many times and every time I stepped onto the golf course I expected to shoot under par. I have pulled out of tournaments after shooting a 78 in the first round, that is how stupid I was.

Then about the time I gave up gambling, another bad habit (people call addiction but this is bullshit as you can stop anytime you want) I started to play golf again. Thankfully I had also matured and mellowed a lot too.

Golf took on a new view, I enjoyed golf and didn’t get so angry when I played a bad hole, if I shot 90 I wasn’t ready to cut my own head off or break every club in my bag. I hadn’t played golf for many years and within a few months of joining my new club I was playing off a 5 handicap. The funny thing was I started on 16 after putting in my first 3 cards. I shot a 74 off the stick when I was playing off 15 leaving a 59 nett score. I was not a well liked person by some.

Then after moving to Thailand I again stopped playing golf for the first 2 years. I then took golf up again and played a few times a month at first and then spasmodically ove the last few years.

Last year I played maybe 10 times and this year I have played 5 games. I don’t get to practice, it is turn up to the course hit a few balls at the driving range and then on the tee.

I still expect to shoot an average score; anything between 86 - 90 is okay, between 80 – 85 good, under 80 excellent. A round over 90 I look at as a failure but I enjoy the game no matter the score. I wish I could go back to my younger days and change my attitude and temperament, but I can’t.

If you have played golf then you will understand what is written above, if not then I am sorry and am wondering why the bloody hell you are still reading my ramblings.

A picture of my lovely niece and me, I wreck the picture indeed. She is a great kid and I love looking after her.

Brunty

City Bowl Ten Pin Bowling Centre Ubon Ratchathani

I had posted about the City Bowl Ten Pin Bowling Centre was now open at the Sunee Grand Hotel Complex but hadn’t had the chance to get any pictures yet. Well I finally got the chance. This is the reception area.

Also there are karaoke rooms as well, they are not finished yet, but will be very soon and then you can do bowl and karaoke packages. Thais love to sing, get drunk and I suppose now bowl.

Some mothers of students were also checking out the bowling lanes and become unsuspecting models.

Another mum protested and wanted her picture taken as well, she showed off her ball handling skills.

This is bowling central.

For design and looks the bowling area isn’t outstanding, the roof is low and there are plenty of support beams jutting through the floor up into the roof. But really that isn’t so important.

The lounge area does look retro and comfortable. Not a bad place to wait to play a game.

And this is the walkway to the best place in the bowling centre.

This could be the best place to wait to play a game or wait for friends to finish a game. The bar stools look like a good place to prop yourself up on.

So if you are looking to do something different in Ubon Ratchathani, then you should wander along to City Bowl at Sunee Grand Hotel.

The prices vary depending on days and time you go. Prices start from 50 Baht per game to 90 Baht per game. Also you can buy packages as well to make it cheaper.

It is a welcomed addition for Ubon and will only grow with time and I am sure there will eventually be league bowling in the future. If this happens maybe some expats can put a team together and play against the locals for bragging rights.

Brunty

Wai Khru Day 2009 Isaan Thailand

The students had arrived at The Sunee Grand Hotel Conference Room after our short walk from the school. They were all seated and well behaved waiting for all the ceremonies to begin.

Some teachers were keen to have their picture taken together wearing our lovely school colours.

The hall is huge and this was only half the size it can be, such luxuries have never been bestowed on the students before and they seemed to be enjoying it.

And the ceremony finally began; the small primary 1 students stood and repeated the prayer being said. They were right at the back of the hall. The furtherest from the stage.

And at the front were the senior students on their best behaviour as well.

I was wondering where all the VIP guests were and also our Brothers, then our school song blasted across the sound system and all stood to attention.

The people who walked down the red carpet were not who I expected. They were senior teachers but there were no Brothers or guests. I decided to make a quick enquiry and was told that this was all a full practice run. I said WTF, are you serious?

I watched for a little longer before deciding to get out of there. This had been going on for about an hour already. I was not going to sit through another minute of practice so I was off to do some sight seeing about the hotel and get some of the pictures of other facilities. As I was leaving the students did this really beautiful low bow to me, not! Just some more practice for them.

Brunty.

Wai Khru Day Isaan Thailand 2009

Last Thursday we celebrated what is known as Wai Khru Day or simply a day where students pay respect to teachers.

Each class will collect money from their fellow students and then have a flower offering made to give to a teacher, usually their homeroom teacher.

The flowers used to make these offerings have meanings and I will explain some in a later post. The designs are wide and varied. This is a bird made from banana leaves folded and pinned.

This flower arrangement has the school abbreviations in red and was sure to please the higher people in the school for sure. It really did look good though with the heart shape.

Some of the small students looked dwarfed, these students had to carry them on a small venture we were about to undertake.

This year we were going to have our Wai Khruu Ceremony all together, this was never possible before as fitting 2,000 plus students into one area of our school couldn’t be done. So we had to go for a short 400 metre walk.

Students were ushered out the back of our school and along a small street that can be very busy in the mornings.

This picture is taken from one of the back gates of our school and this is the new Sunee Grand Hotel, where the Wai Khru Ceremony was being held.

I thought the small walk would be an interesting venture, especially when it means moving kids aged from 5 to 18 in an orderly fashion. Then when we arrived to the hotel, it was the task of getting them all to the 5th floor.

The students were than ushered up escalators and at times there were some interesting moments when the line getting off the escalator was slow and the others started to concertina, I stayed well back and out of harms way.

When we finally arrived at the conference halls and seen the foyer which is incredibly impressive and I will post on the conference foyer at a later date. The conference room is huge, and this wasn’t even opened to its largest size. It can be doubled, I was a little gob smacked. I can tell you that the 2,000 plus students and all the important guests fitted into the room with complete ease, I had never seen the students look so comfortable and not crammed into areas like sardines.

Brunty

Sunee Grand Hotel S Club Health and Spa, Ubon Ratchathani.

I have visited the Sunee Grand Hotel a few times; this is the newest hotel in Ubon Ratchathani and by far the best in terms of quality and also what it has to offer. I visited to the newly opened S Club Health and Spa a few weeks ago but I couldn’t take too many photos as there were so many people.

I made it back again and it was early in the morning so no people about and I had the best wishes of management to spread the word of the new facilities. After taking the lift to the 5th floor, you exit and turn left and see this door.

The waiting area of the S Club is truly relaxing. You walk through the doors and are met with the beautiful scents of oils burning and the vivid couches, chairs and cushions that are incredibly comfy.

Last time I was here there were plenty of people just sitting and enjoying a meal. I think their children were swimming and they were keeping cool and enjoying the food.

The problem is that it is a little too relaxing and makes me want to sit rather than workout, it is okay if you are going for a massage but trying to be pumped up for a workout makes it hard.

Just how good does this look? Would you want to go and workout or sit down for a cool beer and some food?

The staffs at Sunee Grand Hotel are very professional. They are attentive but not overbearing. This is Miss Supapat (Think correct) and she was lovely, not just good looking but really friendly and so helpful and she speaks English very well.

The Fitness Centre is not a huge room but has top quality machines. You will not find this quality anywhere else in Ubon. I haven’t used the ski machines but have used the stationary bike and I can tell you that a pre programmed ride I did the other day that had some small simulated hills really had the blood pumping and legs hurting. The session was 1 hour and 45 minutes and I averaged 27klm per hour.

There are 4 of these running machines. The first day I went on one I thought I would do a preset 5klm run. I put in all the statistics it asked for and then set off. The pace started off slowly, I thought too slowly, but it quickened up, at one stage too fast and I had to slow it down. And when the hills kicked in my legs were exploding. For the 5klms it took 36 minutes. It is much easier in the park to run 5klms and you are not sore for 2 days after it either.

Every good gym needs one of these. In this machine you can do nearly every exercise imaginable to work any body part. Also you can train heavy weights without a spotter as it has safety locks you can set at a certain height if you cannot lift a weight.

The weight machines are all class. They are so smooth and you can work every muscle imaginable. The dumbbell range is huge as well.

Now this is where you want to go to put your feet up. Here you can sit back and relax and look out at the swimming pool while getting a foot massage. If you are a member it costs you 200 Baht for 1 hour, if not a member 400 Baht.

This is the entrance to the Thai Massage Room; you place your belongings into one of the lockers and then are off for a very relaxing hour.

And this is what you see, very nice indeed.

It looks relaxing and I am sure I could fall asleep easily on this bed, but if you have ever had a real Thai massage you know this wouldn’t be possible. I remember have a tiny Thai lady once, she would have been 35kgs ringing wet. When she asked me if she wanted a hard, medium or soft massage I laughed at her as she looked weak and wouldn’t be able to do a hard massage. Oh man I was so, so wrong! This is also 200 Baht per hour for a member and 400 Baht if not.

And the spa, this looks like a relaxing way to spend an hour or so too. Then a full body massage. Who wants to work out?

The sauna rooms are not finished yet, but will be in the next few weeks apparently. There are also aerobic classes, yoga, jazz dance, Hip hop and also strength ball classes. Pretty well something for everyone.

So if you live in Ubon Ratchathani or visiting and any of the above sounds interesting then please head along to the Sunee Grand Hotel and they will look after you like you are the most important person in Thailand.

Brunty

Busy Bee, Solving Problems Isaan Thailand

I haven’t blogged for a few days; I have been very busy and had hardly any spare time. There have been many things I wanted to do but haven’t been able too. I want to get back to the Sunee Grand Hotel and take some more pictures of the health and fitness centre and water park, also the new ten pin bowling alley. I have spoke to one of the hotel representatives and they are more than happy for me to get as many pictures as I like.

The new bowling alley has just opened its doors and is the most exciting thing to happen here in Ubon for a long, long time. My friends went last night and played 12 games straight, 12 games is insane. They had a few beers and when they stopped at my house you couldn’t wipe the smile off their faces and their laughter when recalling some things that happened made me jealous I couldn’t go.

At school things have been a little crazy, I have been working hard, and so I should. There has been heaps of marking to do as all my small students go through an intensive writing course for the first semester. They have to learn to write every letter of the alphabet correctly, not the way they have been allowed to so for in their life.

The young students write a lot in a handwriting grid; this is so they can write the same size all the time, having them write constantly the same way each time will pay off not only for the teacher but also the student.

I also reported on the 22nd of May, about a small primary 1 student’s mum, she was still staying at the school every day, sitting outside the classroom watching her son (Y). I had been very lenient and tolerant up until this point and then I had a discussion with her and told her that I thought this wasn’t a good thing for her son and she needed to let Y start to grow on his own.

I had told her that she couldn’t stay outside my class anymore, enough was enough. That afternoon the mother went to the head of our department and spoke to her. This was Friday afternoon and I wasn’t hanging around to see what was discussed.

On the 25th, or Monday morning I asked the head of the department what had happened. I was told that the mother had pleaded for more time, Y apparently needed her or I believed she needed Y, more.

The head then told me she had agreed to allow the mum to stay till the end of the month. I was angry, really angry and I told my boss this. I told her I was angry that she hadn’t consulted me or other teachers who teach this class.

I really respect the head of the department, she is a lovely lady and has her heart in the best place and has the hard job of trying to make the teachers and parents happy. We can be very truthful to each other as we have worked together for a long time. I call her my Thai mum and she calls me her foreign son. Because of the respect I have for her, even though I wasn’t happy with what had been agreed to, I let it ride.

I mean from the 25th, it was only 5 more days for the mum and that was it, so I thought.

The following Monday, the 1st of June I was in the teacher’s staff room and a conversation started about the mum. On this day she had passed a note in Thai to a team teacher asking her not to stand in the way of Y seeing her. The Thai team teacher had stood between Y and mum, blocking the view of each other and this apparently upset Y. I said, WTF.

The Thai team teacher was incredibly smart and wrote a note back in Thai informing her she had to do her job and she was assisting Y, monitoring him as he is a little weak in the subject being taught. It was a great reply.

Well, I wasn’t teaching this class until later in the afternoon. So I went to the Brother who is in charge of discipline. I spoke to him about the mother and the problem this is causing for the teachers but also Y. He was shocked that she was still attending the school, sitting outside the classroom. He told me he was going to talk to her on this afternoon.

So it finally came time for me to teach the class, I made my way up the flight of stairs and was met with the sight of the mother sitting on the bench outside. I went inside and placed my materials for the class on the teacher’s desk and then instructed the students to open their workbooks and finish what we had been doing yesterday.

I went outside and sat next to the mother, at this exact time my Thai team teacher turned up, thankfully. I then explained that we needed to talk. At the sight of me talking to the mother, Y had an episode and started to cry and wail.

I had Y come outside and then we discussed the issue. It was all done calmly and politely. She tried to say she needed more time and had been given a month from the 25th of May but I quickly knocked this on the head.

I explained this problem would not go away in a week, two weeks, months or a year if she continued to sit outside the classroom observing and smothering Y. She had to step back today and start this process now, know more holding him back. We explained to Y, that his mum would still be at the school but not outside the classroom.

He was upset of course, but eventually he calmed down. I asked for her to go downstairs and take Y and he could come back when ready be that a day, week or a month. She did this and about 10 minutes later Y turned up by himself. He walked into the class and I asked him if he was okay and he said ‘yes.’

Y told me his mum was in the school library and he was happy with this and so was I as this, as it is a long way from the classroom.

Y has since spent every class with his mum not outside the classroom; he has been fine and not a problem at all. He had worked well and is very bright in fact as he can read the words we have learnt in class, he can associate what letter each word starts with and so forth, much better than many of my students.

I still have some who think y is for red; p is for ruler and so forth. It is fun teaching little kids.

The problem although not completely solved as the mother still stays at the school; she sits in the school library and then sees Y each break time and also at lunch. I am happy as it is a small step in the right direction but the time is coming quickly where she must stop coming to the school altogether. For now though I am not going to be Mr. Mean, I am happy with what has been achieved.

Tomorrow is Wai Khruu Day, which I blogged on last year. It is going to be a big morning as we are going to Sunee Grand Hotel and using a conference room and then taking a tour of some of the hotel and facilities

Having just over 2,000 students walking the short 300 odd metres from our school will be a challenge in itself. Right now it is pouring rain, coming down in bucket loads. If it rains like this in the morning I am not sure how the students will get to the hotel. I don’t think this has been thought of or expected. Just maybe the Brother has it on good terms from the man upstairs that the morning is going to be fine..

Here are some pictures of students practicing for Wai Khruu Day, yesterday.

Listening to advice and being warned.

Standing to attention.

A Thai Wai or greeting.

How to sit politely.

Paying respect with a Wai.

A beautiful,low respectful bow.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.

Brunty

Scout Camp, Isaan Thailand.

This is a strange sight, a tent in front of our sport hall.

The reason for this was, it was years 12 student’s scout camp. It meant two nights of sleeping at the school, participating in scouting activities and staying in tents. I asked the boys if they were having a good time and the answer was negative. All the students I asked, the answer was the same each time.

Early in the morning the table tennis tables are busy. It is a very popular sport here and each break time the tables are full of budding young superstars.

On each table there will be 4 or more students. The two people playing simply play until one reaches 2 points. They stay on the table (The King of the table) and the others rotate around waiting their turn.

I enjoy grabbing a bat and having a game against the kids and they really enjoy playing the farang teacher.

Back to the scouts, the senior scouts had finished breakfast and were now lined up ready to start their fun filled day.

It was then time for inspection. The students were lined up and a senior scout member (I suppose you call a master, no idea as I was never in scouts) inspected each student’s uniform, salute and so forth.

In Thailand scouts is compulsory from primary 1 until secondary 6, or another words your entire schooling life to participate in scouts.

The uniforms are standard across the country, there was talk of changing the uniforms a few years back but there was a huge backlash from the public because of the cost. The uniforms are not cheap anyway, and with all the accessories it would cost a small fortune for most Thais to outfit their kids.

The older scouts changed into normal clothes and did group activities through the day. Most were outside and they were always so happy when it was time to break. They told me it was hot, and also the sun makes them go black. They were lucky it was cloudy and breezy for the first 2 days.

But there was still time to pose for the camera, and all three told me they still weren’t having fun. Times are tuff for Thai students in Isaan Thailand.

These kids are really lucky as a few years ago the scout camps were held out in the bush. The kids were bused out to their location and then had to walk a few kilometres to their accommodation. This was very basic; there were many insects, especially mosquitoes and also plenty of leeches. Cold showers only and the kids complained for days about going here.

These guys need to thank whoever made the decision to stop going there.

Brunty

Thai Student's Workbooks, Isaan Thailand.

I blogged the other day, about how I reward my students who make an extra effort in class. The students who do small things that make them stand out from the rest. This can be a number of things but a few students have been turning their workbooks into colouring books.

Some students have been going beyond anything I expected; these are students in primary 5 or 11 years of age. I didn’t know kids were still into colouring at this age.

When you open a student’s workbook to mark and are met with such a vibrant sight, it does brighten the task of marking.


I want the students to hand in neat work, work that is comprehensible. I am very stern with students who hand in work that is unintelligible. The students who used to hand in work like this now understand that they have to redo the work again and again until it is up to a suitable standard.

Some students have surprised me with their effort they are making. Already in a short time, we have only been back at school 4 weeks some students have made leaps and bounds in work effort and quality.

Most the students are after this very boring looking stamp. It is a stamp of a cross and I put the date on it and then initial it. When a student has accumulated 20, they are able to select a reward. The rewards are books, sketch books, colouring pencils, crayons, erasers, pens and pencils and so forth. For the small amount of money I outlay for rewards it is well worth seeing the results of the student’s work.

Brunty

Rewarding Students for Their Efforts, Isaan Thailand.

Today I thought I would share my classes with you. I teach two primary 1 classes or students aged from nearly six to seven years of age. This is my smaller primary 1 class with only 21 students. They are a great bunch of kids. There are a few boys that have been a little testing but all is going well with this class.

Some of the boys have real personality. They tend to forget they are actually at school and meant to be learning at times. But again what 6 year old wouldn’t be like this. We are making progress though, some more than others. I am happy as long as the weaker students are trying and their parents are making an effort to help them catch up to their friends as well.

I give out monthly awards for my classes, one student is chosen from each of my classes. They are chosen for good behaviour in class, completing their work well, listening and participating in class activities.

The student of the month receives a certificate that I make. I use a website called dyetub.com that has a big array of free certificates ready to print. It is a great site as you don’t have to join, give emails or anything else. A few clicks changing details and you print out your certificate. If you are a teacher and don’t have a lot of free time you can print certificates in a few minutes.

This is primary 1 student Miss Ice, she is incredibly bright and her English ability is leaps and bounds ahead of fellow classmates. She is a real pleasure to teach.

These are some of my other primary 1 class students, again a lot of fun to teach and also a lot of work too. To teach kids you have to have plenty of energy as kids need to feed off this. If you are bright, happy and cheerful the kids usually join in too.

I love the smiles you get from the littlies, the facial expressions and excitement that the smallest of things can bring. Seeing these little kids giving each other high fives when they get a question right or hugs is priceless and this is even from opposition team members.

This is Miss Kai Mook, I call her Pearl as this is what her name means in Thai. I love the name it is really beautiful. She too is very smart and has already progressed a lot in the first few weeks of school. She often puts her hand up to answer questions or to participate in games.

These are my bigger kids, primary 5 students. There are plenty of characters here. Some are mischievous and others are brilliant with an incredible work ethic for a young age.

These two girls, Miss Meen and Miss May have such different personalities but are good friends. The work they do although not flawless is outstanding, it's the extra work they put into their workbooks that is extraordinary. I give out stamps as an incentive to students. When a student has 20 stamps they are given a reward. Work that is neat, or work that has been completed well and it must have full stops, commas, and so forth or punctuation. These girls’ books are like a masterpiece. I have never seen students of this age colour with such care and pride. These aren’t the only ones though.

Miss Meen was the student of the month for primary 5. She has really surprised me not only with her work but also willingness to participate in class activities but also isn’t shy in asking for help.

And my oldest class, primary 6. Here are a few of the boys, most of which really try to push the boundaries of my classroom rules. It wouldn’t be as fun though if not living on the edge of being killed by Mr. Jason.

Here are two of the brightest stars in primary 6. Miss Nana and Miss Pink with a few other students are a few furlongs ahead of classmates and I have to keep them interested in what we are learning so they don’t get bored. Giving them some tasks that are much more difficult than their fellow classmates is just one way of doing this.

Miss Pink was this month’s winner from primary 6. The effort she puts into class means she could be a multiple winner of this title this year.

Now the younger students love these awards, the older students are sort of pretending it isn’t cool to be getting such an award but also are happy too. I make a small notice board style presentation to show the school these kids have earned this award.

I made this in 40 minutes, print the pictures, cut out the stars and titles and then buy some future board and done. I did stuff the main title up, Student instead of ‘Students’ of the Month. I never have claimed to be perfect, far from it indeed.

Anyway I hope I haven’t bored you with the day in the life of an English teacher in Thailand. I could go on about all the marking and lesson plans I had to do too.

Brunty

Thai Bachelor Life, Isaan Thailand.

Well I have been living the life of a bachelor of late. Miss Noot and I haven’t split up but with her working the late night shift we don’t really see each other.

I get up at around 6am and head off to work at 6:45am; Miss Noot is soundly asleep as she works 3pm till midnight. Some nights I am still awake when she arrives home but not very often.

She will usually get to bed about 1am, which is what she tells me. I wouldn’t have a clue most times as I am dead to the world and don’t wake up. Her friend Annie, who works with Miss Noot stays with us 6 nights a week. It is not safe for a girl to be riding a motorbike late at night by herself anywhere in Thailand not just Ubon Ratchathani.

Jack, who is Thai and married to Miss Noot’s older sister was telling me on Saturday about a girl who lives three houses from them was mugged or robbed it is better to put it.

They live in a housing estate that is council owned, the street that leads to this housing development is full of houses but this didn’t stop one scumbag piece of shit from committing robbery.

It was around 10pm and the girl had slowed down to go over a speed bump, the piece of shit male ran out from a dark area and grabbed the girl. He didn’t do anything to her other than taking her bag and key for the motorbike. He then ran off with a measly 400 Baht. She is lucky when you hear many of the stories of what happens on the streets late at night.

Miss Noot and Benjawan, Noot’s younger sister are not allowed to ride anywhere after 9pm by themselves. When Ben has to go to school early for some special occasion I follow her there to make sure she arrives safely. I trust her but not many of the lowlifes getting about that early in the morning.

I keep an extendable stainless baton under the seat of my motorbike. I have never had to use it to protect myself and hope I never do. I feel very safe in Ubon, until around 11pm and all the idiots in their little posses get out on their motorbikes cruising about the place. Thankfully I hardly ever go out late at night on my bike.

Anyway with Miss Noot working late and I am looking after myself means I have been buying takeaway most nights for dinner. Some nights I cook, be it toast and vegemite. Why cook when you can eat out for 20-30 Baht each night.

I have an array of shops not even a minute away on my motorbike. There you can buy dish of Thai food imaginable and the cheapest prices too.

Tonight I lashed out and bought two dishes.

Usually I would have one dish like this. This is crispy pork and Chinese kale with oyster sauce. It is so delicious and one of my favorites’, along with about 20 other Thai dishes.

Tonight I lashed out and bought a Thai staple, spicy prawn soup or Tom Yum Goong. It has a range of seafood in it, prawns, squid, fish, small shell fish and of course plenty of spice. It is so, so yummy. And at only 50 Baht an absolute bargain. When I go to a nice restaurant and see it priced at 120-150 Baht I freak out but then remember this isn’t my little Street side shop.

One negative factor of Noot working is we don’t see our niece as much. Before Miss Noot started her work experience we would have Nong Ja over 3 or 4 nights a week. It was an absolute pleasure to have her and we loved looking after her.

Now I see her once or maybe twice a week if really lucky. Usually a Thursday and Friday night she will stay with us. Noot has Fridays off and we usually call and ask for Nong Ja to be dropped over.

Nong Ja will be 1 year old on the 13th of this month. The year has gone just so fast. I want to throw her a big party but Noot thinks this is silly as she is only one; my argument is that ‘you are only one, once.’ I will get my way. I want to party at Sunee Water Park.

To me it is being like a father to her. Although I am her uncle she is treated like a daughter. She has her uncle wrapped around her finger but he also has her wrapped around his. It is pretty funny when you hear, “Jason, come get Nong Ja.”

She could be throwing a little hissy fit but when Uncle Jason comes she usually stops. I am a big kid. A really big kid, so spending hours doing stupid things, playing with toys, making ridiculous noises is nothing to me.

The Thai girls think that a near one year old can amuse herself with toys while they eat, or watch the most dreadful TV to ever be invented, Thai dramas. Sadly most 1 year olds want a little attention and I am more than happy to do this.

So the nights are quiet at my house. I have been busy studying Thai, I am an idiot and it takes a lot for all the Thai symbols and sounds to sink in through my thick skull and mushy brain. In about 10 or so years I might be able to hold a conversation and also understand what the hell is going on.

Brunty