English Teaching Seminar, Isaan Thailand.

The other weekend I was forced to partake in a teacher training seminar on Saturday and Sunday. This meant no weekend for me.

I have come to dread these seminars after being through 4 of them. I can truthfully say that one out of the four was in some way useful. Two of them were just down right boring and a complete waste of time.

I wasn’t confident about this seminar either as the person who was arranging it had arranged the previous seminars. It wasn’t until a few days before that we actually knew who was coming to train us. And also one of our newest teachers was asked to present a section on motivating young learners.

So I went with serious doubts and was expecting it to be very boring and mundane. The first guest was a really lovely lady, Dr. Saisunee, she did a presentation on Authentic Assessment, I am not going to go into this but in short it is about how we should assess students and also set tests now, not how they did in years gone by.

I actually sat through a presentation on the same topic last year by a foreign guy and it was delivered terribly and was so boring I was looking for rope to hang myself. Thankfully Dr. Saisunee presented the topic incredibly well and I enjoyed it, I also took plenty out of this as well.

Then the rest of the weekend we played games, yes games. There really wasn’t too much more to it. We did browse the topic of how to control a classroom, teachers offered their ideas and they were written onto a board for all to share.



So we played games, smiled and laughed.

One funny game they did was a game where you can only ask, ‘yes/no’ questions. I have played this game before with native speakers and older students and it is fun.

The victim has a name of something placed on their back, they then have to try and work out what it is using the least amount of questions.

Now, playing this with Thai teachers was funny, some of the teachers from kindergarten have very low English ability but they had come along and were trying their hardest to participate.

It was pretty hilarious when a person has, penguin on their back and they ask, ‘Do I have fur?’ Yes, can be a little misleading.


Or the victim has ‘snail’ on their back. He asks a Thai teacher, “Do I have more than 6 legs?” Of course the answer is, ‘yes’. And this goes on and on.


Dancing, dancing and dancing.






And even some limbo.

In the end the weekend was fun, but I didn’t take much out of the weekend that I hadn’t already learnt at some time before. The other thing that hurt is losing a good whack of money from my private students.

I teach 7 hours a weekend, 5 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday, that is 28 hours a month. In those 28 hours I only take a few thousand Baht less than the wage I get for an entire month from my school for working 160 hours a month.

Thankfully I won’t need to go through this for another entire year.

Brunty

Scout Day Thailand 2009.

Earlier this month we had Scout Day at our school. Here a shrine or memorial is set up for the morning ceremony.

Scouting was introduced to Thailand on July 1st, 1911 by King Rama VI, who is known as the father of scouting.

On guard were our student soldiers, they are part time soldiers for three years and this then exempts them from national duty.

These are soon to be soldiers, in the waiting. When they pass the necessary tests they will be issued their greens.

Scouts is a little unique here in Thailand as it is part of the school curriculum. All across Thailand all schools have scouts once a week.

So these teachers have been scouting since they were 5 or 6 years old.

A senior teacher paid respect to Thailand’s scout founder.

It was a perfect day for the ceremony, hardly a cloud in the sky.

This is obviously a scout salute of some kind. I have never been involved in scouts and have no idea about it.

Our Brother or Director then came out to begin the ceremony. He was given a salute, much like they weirdoes from the navy used to. In the army you salute properly. I don’t know if he is the highest ranking scout, or he does the ceremony because he is the boss.

The Director then stood at the lectern and saluted the teachers and students, who returned the salute.

The Brother then lays a flower garland at the base of the memorial.

Brother then lights a candle and an incense stick.


Next 3 very high and respectful ‘wais’ or a Thai greeting is done, while all watch on.


Then it was time for some reflection, a minute of silence to pay respect.

The ceremony wasn’t near finished but I had to leave, I had plenty of work to do. Way back near the office and well away from seeing any of the ceremony were these small scouts.

These students still have another 10 years of scouting to go, they look pretty happy though.

The uniform for year 1 to 3 students are white shirts and blue shirts. For years 4 to year 12 it is green for the girls and khaki for the boys.

And if you are interested some extra information.

Thailand’s scout motto is:

เสียชีพอย่าเสียสัตย์ Better to die than to lie.

Scout promise: On my honour I promise that I will be loyal to the Nation, the Religion and the King; help other people at all times; and obey the Scout Law.

Scout laws: A Scout's honour is to be trusted.A Scout is loyal to his Nation, his Religion, and his King and is faithful to his benefactors.A Scout's duty is to be useful and to help others.A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other Scout in the world.A Scout is courteous.A Scout is kind to animals.A Scout respectfully obeys the orders of his parents and his superiors.A Scout is very cheerful and is not afraid of troubles.A Scout is thrifty.A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed.

A Good Pie, Exam Cheating and H1N1 Virus, Thailand.

Before I launch into a rant about this week at school I will go over this lovely meal. A friend of mine, his wife makes really good pies. I get a dozen a time and put them in the freezer. She makes chicken, beef, pork and vegetable, bacon, chunky beef, curry and so forth and they are delicious.

I pay 40 Baht a pie, a bargain I say for the quality, cook up some vegetables and a meal for a king or a dick like me.

The other great thing of late was this convection microwave. It cost me 300 Baht. A friend had it in the kitchen and it got wet in a downpour and stopped working, he bought a new microwave.

I informed him that Thais can fix just about anything, he said I could have the microwave and get it fixed. The repair man had it for a week, he cleaned it up, repainted the inside with a special paint and it is working like new.

Now in the mornings I simply tip all the ingredients in together for my oatmeal and go and have my shower. When I come out my breakfast is ready to eat. Cooking vegetables are so easy too, should have bought one a long time back, but I wouldn’t have got it for 300 Baht.

This week at school has been pretty horrible. We had exams on Tuesday and Wednesday and this meant sitting in a classroom all day proctoring. We had to make sure students didn’t cheat.

The days were long and boring but you get through it. After the tests finished it then meant marking your exam papers. I started with my youngest class, primary 1. They are kids aged from five and a half to nearly seven.

When you teach these kids 5 days a week you get to know then well, you know who are strong and who are weak in English.

The first test I was to correct, each student is numbered from 1 to 30. The number 1 student is a boy and his English is weak. I was expecting plenty of mistakes, in class he cannot read the easy sentences, identify the colours we have learnt, match words to pictures and so forth.

So I started marking his test, correct, correct, correct… Okay, I knew something was going on. I then went straight to the weakest student in the class, I straight away knew when I glanced over it what had happened.

The teacher that looks after the class, their homeroom teacher is a lovely lady, really lovely. She is the politest lady I have met at the school. Always so friendly and I have always gotten on well with her.

The problem is she is too soft; she hates to see the kids not do well in the exams. I first came across this a few years ago in her class when again very weak students were just doing too well.

Later that day when I arrived in the classroom. I called the 5 weakest students to the front of the class. I had them come to me at the teacher’s desk and try and read some of a blank test. None of them could, I had expected this.

I then explained, I was not angry at them or they were not in trouble. I asked them how they could do the test.

I was then told, ‘the teacher helped me.’

I asked how the teacher had helped. I was told, ‘the teacher had translated frpm English into Thai’ and had also coloured objects where students had to read and colour.

I was really pissed, I had 4 exams on at the same time, so I was walking between them to monitor and also offer assistance if a student asked. I do not help students at all. I will point to examples on the test or the words that might be in bold in the instructions. I never prompt a student in an exam.

So I then again told the primary 1 students that they were not in trouble. I asked the students who were helped by the teacher to raise their hand.

About 18 students out of the 30 raised their hands. I am sure smoke was coming out of my ears.

I taught the rest of the class as per normal. I went back to the office and didn’t say a word to the supervisor of the English programme or to the teacher who had helped them.

I composed a letter informing all the primary 1 parents of what had happened, exactly the truth with no sugar coating. I then had this translated into Thai.

It basically informed parents that all scores were null and void. All students would be retested next week and the test will be done in class and monitored by me. If the parents have any complaints, direct them to the administration of the school.

I know that the teacher involved is going to be embarrassed and also angry, but after warning her not to help students every time we sit exams for the last 3 years I have had enough.

I don’t expect all students to be grade ‘A’ students. If a student cannot do a part of a test, so be it. I can then inform the parents that they need to offer extra help in that area. Hiding a student’s weakness only creates a bigger problem down the track.

Apart from this, there has been idiocy happen about the swine flu or H1N1. Some of the powers to be must have been sniffing way to much glue in a very small and enclosed area. Some of the recommendations they rules they have put in place over the past week, go against what the World Health Organization recommend.

In our classrooms have had the airconditioning turned off, the windows and doors have been opened but there isn’t a breeze to be felt. It is stinking hot in the rooms and students have droplets of sweat fall off their noses onto their books in the swealtering heat.

I have said again and again. The air conditioning is not going to spread the H1N1 virus, it isn’t an ‘airborne virus’ it is spread through contaminated droplets expelled when speaking or sneezing, human to human contact or a person touches a surface that has the virus on it and then transfers it by touching their mouth or face area.

Today the idiocy went to new heights, apparently, again apparently some students in year 10 had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, so the classes around them were sent away from their room and all the classes were ordered to be cleaned.

Students who weren’t sick started asking if they could go home as they were scared. It was really pathetic.

If these kids are made aware that if they follow some basic hygiene steps they have a very good chance of not contracting the virus.

When I asked some students how the virus was transmitted or spread the answers were absolutely comical.

Students would not believe me they could sit in a room with a person who had the virus and not contract it. They could not believe that a person with the virus could sneeze or spit on a part of your body, say arm and hand and you would not contract it.

When I asked about how they can prevent contracting the virus, nearly all answered, ‘a mask.’

When I told them that this could increase the risk of getting the virus, if they wear the mask incorrectly, which 99.99% of the kids do! They thought I was insane.

Also they said washing their hands, I asked how long should they was them for, what was the recommendation from the World Health Organization, they thought 10 seconds. You should wash your hands thoroughly for 20 to 30 seconds.

And so forth, the students have been filled with propaganda, lies and deceit. If the students were told the simple facts it would stop a lot of the rot that is going on now.

The virus is a worry, but if you do get it and seek medical attention early most will just have a cold, some will get very ill and others will sadly die.

Next week, I have no idea what it will hold. Today a memo came out informing us that there will be no air conditioning until the 14th of August at least, classrooms need to be thoroughly cleaned twice a day, teachers, students and parents are encouraged to wear a mask and so forth.

I am sick of it all, I am sick of the over the top panic, student parents who have kept some kids away for over 20 days of school now. You cannot wrap your fuc$ing kid in cotton wool all the time. These idiot parents don’t realize that the kids have more chance of probably catching it at the local market or super market.

The school is virtually a controlled environment, teachers watch over the kids, if a student looks sick they are separated from the other students and their parents are called.

At a supermarket you don’t know who has handled the packet of chips before little Johnny and rubbed mucus and snot all over the bag. It is there environments that worry me.

Anyway, I could go on and on. But I am over it all. I have a headache, sore throat, sore arms and legs, I have a temperature and I feel like shit. So I am going out to spread this to as many people as I can.

Brunty :)

Rebecca Wilson, Australian Journalist and Radio Big Mouth.

There is a female (if you can call her this, referring to her as human is degrading to us) called Rebecca Wilson. She is a so called journalist who has a huge mouth and often spits absolute shit out of it.

Picture courtesy of ebroadcast.com.au

I am sorry for that picture; I just hope you had eaten before seeing it as you could have become violently ill.

Rebecca has pissed sporting codes off many times with her hate male attitudes, and football codes. She did this to Australian soccer when she offered her opinions on the state of this code.

Her opinions are often biased, male hating that only she can deliver. Today I read her article only because of the header; ‘Put a Sock in it Shark’ referring to the Great White Shark or golfer Greg Norman.

If you don’t live or come from Australia you mightn’t even know about this story or man. The GWS put Australian golf on the map; he did what no other great golfers from Australia managed to do. He made the world look at this blonde haired Aussie who played golf like no Australian before.

Anyway, Norman split from his former wife a long time ago now; the divorce was of course media attention and it didn’t help as he ended up marrying family friend and famous tennis player Chris Evert.

Really, who gives a shit? He and she are grown adults; media are mostly dogs and want a header that sells newspapers. So this all got old quickly for many.

Eventually Norman and Evert went about living life as a happily married couple. Norman then last year surprised many when he was in contention for the British Open in his late 50’s.

Norman then made a comment about his new zest for life, Asked if he would have won more big competitions with Evert by his side 20 years ago, Norman said: "Chrissy would have instilled a different thought process going into it and I would say the answer probably would be 'yes'."

Well of course all the fools, and pieces of crap, like Rebecca Wilson cried foul.

Norman explained his comments, saying tennis great Evert would have been a good influence. "In the context of the interview, he was asking about sport because Chrissy was the No. 1 tennis player in the world,"

Norman said. Being aggressive and being conservative, she would have been relaying different things on to me,"

This makes sense to me, his former partner wasn’t a top line athlete, she didn’t understand the mental pressures and so forth. Evert did, she was at the top of her sport. Maybe or maybe not, she could have helped Norman win more major titles. It was a valid comment.

But Rebecca Wilson then wrote this article, if you want to read it in its entirety then click here.

Here are some of Wilson’s words from her article. Hers are in green. My rebuttals are in blue.

Suspicions have been raised over the years about Australian golfer, Greg Norman's lack of humility and his undeniable ability to choke. For some reason, though, we have forgiven him his sins, instead opting to give the Shark the Aussie benefit of the doubt.

Well fuc* me, these are words of jealousy and utter hate for a male. The guy is a golfing legend and ambassador for Australia. He has continued to play in Australia and support golf at home.

Ability to ‘choke’, this is very rich coming from this criminal. Oh, more on that soon. Moral high ground toting bit*h.

There will be a legion of Norman followers who don't care if he has turned into a complete tosser, who is so under the spell of a female that it is sick-inducing.

Can you justify what he has done to be this so called complete ‘tosser’, Wilson? Can you at least name a few things? How could any paper and editor allow this completely and unjustified personal attack be printed?

Since they married, Norman has hit a purple patch in his golf form. He has made several cuts and went very close to winning last year's British Open while the adoring Evert looked on.

Again and again in the past year, Norman has fronted the media and espoused the virtues of Evert. "She has shown me a new aspect on life," he dribbles.

"I can play good golf because she is around. She understands me. It is one athlete to another."

So what, He contributes his happiness and current success to his wife. Wilson you are a disgrace.

If he had said this once, we may have forgiven him. He has said it over and over, preferring to believe in his own mind that we actually care to hear it all a third or fourth time.

A man crediting his wife to his success, a terrible thing indeed.

His comments had everything to do with him being a love-struck puppy dog who has forgotten all sense of reason since he first met Evert.

For saying he could have won more majors if he was with Evert instead of his former wife, so bloody what?

Norman is arrogant enough to believe he is the first bloke in his early 50s to have ever found love with another woman after 25 years of marriage to someone else; that he is the first athlete to have married another athlete;

The Shark has become a wet fish whose next move could be a comb-over for that dyed blonde hair.

I wish he and Evert would go back to the island where they married, get a room and stay there for the next decade or so.


Wilson tries to back up her attack in the article, read it in its entirety. Maybe I am biased as I am a golfer and respect Norman for what he has achieved and done for golf.

What amuses me is this. Wilson, How can this woman who has been caught drink driving twice and also caught driving without a licence claim all the above.

What a responsible and sensible woman she is. Drink driving twice and sadly not jailed, then ignoring the judge, the court system, respect for the law, the safety of Australians, the drunkard then drove without her licence.

If you ask me, this is all pretty rich coming from her. I don’t like Wilson, never have, so this could be biased. She has no talent and relies on her ‘controversial views’ to get attention.

When you watch her on TV, or listen to her on radio, her monotone voice and rock hard, emotionless features are so off putting. I am so happy that I don’t live in Australia and have to endure this anymore.

Sorry to my readers, I had to have my rant. Hope you enjoyed my opinion of you, Wilson.

Brunty

Tai Orathai, An Ambassador for Thai Music, Beauty, Grace and Elegance.

I had ventured to the Sunee Grand Hotel and Convention Centre here in Ubon Ratchathani to watch a free concert of a Thai superstar who I have the utmost respect for. But before I could watch the star attraction I had to endure more dancing and singing.

Thankfully this man who I have seen before and is blind took to the stage, he plays the ‘kaen’ a Thai instrument, and I can truthfully tell you I was gob smacked by him the first time I ever saw him play. If you have ever tried to play the kaen it is incredibly hard. This man was the best I had heard play the kaen. He launched into a minute solo that was really well received.

This is a very popular Thai folk singer and I have seen her many times before, her voice is astonishing, her level of notes and how she vocal dances as I call it is astonishing. Thai folk music has a very strong following in Isaan.

There was some more dancing to be seen, traditional Thai dancing to the folk songs.

The show lasted a good 45 minutes but I was happy to endure this as it was top quality.

Finally the time came for the main attraction, after waiting close to 3 hours the startling, graceful, and amazing person that is Tai Orathai took to the stage. Tai is a Thai country singer and has a huge following across Thailand.

Tai Orathai is all class. There are so many untalented Thai bands, especially girl bands that rely on flesh and sexual innuendo to sell their music while lip-syncing. I cannot stand this type of artist or group. Actually this is a world music problem of today. Image takes precedent over talent.

Tai Orathai doesn’t need this, her voice is something you need to hear live and marvel at this amazing gift that she shares with us.

The way she conducts herself is a credit to her and her family. She is always so poised and elegant. She is the role model that many Thai girls need to endeavor to be like.

Tai sings songs with meaning, her lyrics often tell a beautiful story.



It was so heartwarming to see a crowd of not jut middle aged and old crooners, but also many young Thais who wanted to see their idol sing and if lucky, touch her.

This is Tai, after each song she thanks the crowd for their applause with a Thai ‘wai’, elegance and grace surrounds this lady.

It was such a pleasure watching Tai sing her songs with such meaning; I left with a huge grin and was so happy to see her perform again. She will be performing again on the 25th of this month with some other stars at a concert near my house.

Below there are some of Tai Orathai’s songs, there are plenty of her songs that you can find by simply searching her name through Google.

Ging Kow Ler Yang (Isaan for have you eaten yet, already)

This song is about her partner and if he had eaten, yet? She's worried about him as he works really hard and she thinks of him all day. When he gets home, she will cook for him a wonderful meal. She really appreciates what he does for her. She hopes he doesn’t work too hard.

It is a beautiful song and her voice is just simply stunning.

Kor Kae Roo Kao (I Only Want News)


I am sorry for the poor quality pictures, I will make up for this on the 25th of July and I am hoping to interview her on the night. I spoke to owner of Sunee Grand Hotel and they were contacting her management for me. So my fingers are crossed.

Brunty

Ubon Travel Fest Show, Isaan Thailand.

I ventured to Sunee Grand Hotel and Convention Centre here in Ubon Ratchathani on Sunday night; there had been three days of a Thai Travel Fest as it was promoted. They were showcasing Isaan provinces and also the 4 other regions of Thailand and all the provinces encompassed in them.

There were stalls full of all sort of products from the various regions, most were packing up when I arrived on Sunday evening. I had been busy all weekend and also missed the ongoing and never ending political debacle that continues in Thailand today.

We have had red shirts, yellow shirts, blue shirts and so forth, the yellow shirts are probably the most recognised as they virtually shut the country down last year when they sieged the airports. They were referred to as ‘terrorists’ by some politicians and police and they are now trying to sue these very people for labeling them terrorist. Really they are pretty close to it by doing something as idiotic as that.

Then the red shirts came out and also were pains in the butt at times, street protests that turned violent and also sadly costing lives at times ensued. I don’t follow any political side in Thailand; each to me is an equal evil.

On Sunday I missed the red shirts staging a protest at the Sunee Grand Hotel as a current government minister was here for the climax of the travel fest. My friend at Life in Rural Thailand took some good pictures and you can see them at this link, redshirt unrest in Ubon.

Anyway, back to the travel fest, I made my way past all the stalls to the 5th floor where a concert was to be held, the reason I was there. But before the main attraction there was still plenty of dancing to be done.

I apologise in advance for the quality of the pictures, they are pretty bad. I was very stupid and left the house in a bit of a rush and the only CF card I had in my camera bag was a small 1GB and that was in the camera. My 8GB and 16GB were in my laptop bag, I had forgotten to put them back into my camera bag after uploading pictures.

So all the pictures I had to take in Jpeg mode and not in RAW imaging where I can edit the quality of the pictures. I was very disappointed with myself as the end results aren’t very good, but I will use for this post.

The first dancers on the stage were from Southern Thailand, there outfits were striking and the dance albeit slow and repetitive elegant.

I actually enjoyed something different from the normal Thai music and dancing I see.



To watch the girls dance in virtually perfect sync as they glided around the stage is always admirable.

Next up were more stunning dancers and outfits, one thing I am usually memorized by are the quality of outfits you always see at these sorts of shows.

The smiles beamed from the dancers the entire time they were on the stage.

After this very traditional and elegant style dancing it was time for some fooling about. It was Thai style time. I thought it was going to be the usually hip shaking and bum wobbling but this wasn’t going to be entirely right.

Out came the lead performer, this is very popular comedy in Thailand, dress a guy as a girl and they lip-sync to some Isaan or hillbilly songs (Barn Nawk).

Throw in a few more boys in skirts who can usually dance better than the real girls and you have a show.

And it got worse, well the outfits that is. This man was stunning in this ensemble.

The head bopping music started and the dancers started to Mor lum dance.

Any of you guys looking for a good Thai girl, she is available. Let me know and I will pass on her details.

Then it was time for a Thai role play. This all centred on the current H1N1 flu. These role plays are also very popular.

I was lost for words at the eminence being emitted by this very stunning lass.

And the mother in the story was simply gorgeous, a real keeper.

The local witch doctor then made an appearance to rid the girl of her swine flu.

Of course the acting was way over the top as it is supposed to be, here the character started to eat chicken soaked in what was meant to be blood. It brought laughter and also eews and arrhs for the crowd.

The shows finally finished and I was then hoping that the main event was not too far away but this wasn’t the case. There was still more singing and dancing to come.

They wanted to keep the punters waiting for the star attraction of the night a little longer.

Brunty

Slot Machine Rocks Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.

Living close to Big C there is usually something happening about the place every weekend. There are some big vacant parcels of land near Big C and often have concerts, motorcycle shows and so forth.

On Friday night there was a beer company doing a promotion. There was a band competition on early in the evening and then a superstar Thai band on later in the evening.

The beer is called Archa, and I can honestly tell you it is my favourite Thai beer when I do have a beverage. A few years ago I tried it as there were huge banners promoting it and it had won gold medals in Australian beer awards. That was good enough for me.

Anyway, the band was Slot Machine, a Thai rock band that has a big following here. I actually like their music and was looking forward to hearing and seeing them live. It didn’t take long and the beat of the drums thundered out and then the lead guitarist started, then the lead singer sprinted onto stage which brought the crowd to life.

The band records under BMG so must be doing something right and won song of the year in 2007. The singer is great; he belts out hard rock songs but also can sing ballads well.




The lead guitarist has an afro, he is pretty popular with the girls I think as he got a huge scream when he came out and did a sound check before the band started.

The guy who seems to be the animal of the band is the bass guitarist. He is insane on the stage.

The bass guitarist was sprinting all over the stage, and the stage hands were trying their hardest in gathering and also letting his lead out. He must have unplugged his guitar 4 times and one time his earplugs had come out as well.

He knocked over a microphone stand, nearly tipped over a feedback speaker and was just having a ball looking at him.


As I said before not only do they knock out great rock songs but the ballads they sing are great.

And to finish the 10 or so song set off they launched into their song of the year.

The crowd revved up and the hands started pumping into the air.

It was a good way to spend a few hours on Friday night.

Brunty

A Birthday and Fun and Games, Isaan Thailand.

Today I had to go to school again even though it was Sunday, we have had teacher training the last few days so it has meant no break over the weekend.

Today was also a special day, so I had to leave the teacher training early (I was upset) and go out for lunch. It was Miss Noot’s birthday.

We ventured to a lovely little restaurant near our house for a quiet lunch. Miss Noot went ahead of me with her friend as I had to quickly do a few things when she had left for the restaurant.

I speed down to Pepper’s Bakery and Café to pick up her birthday cake. Andrew had her favourite cake ready to be picked up, a pandanus coconut cream cake. I then rushed this home and put it in the fridge.

View Ban Dan Tha Kwlan in a larger map
The restaurant is the knife and fork and is easy to find. Second turn past Big C at the police box where all the mobile phone shops are.

I then motored across to the restaurant to a barrage of questions which I very vaguely answered. It was really good timing as I had sat down for 30 seconds when the first dish was brought out.

This is one of my favourite Thai dishes, it is known as Pak Boong, or another words water cabbage or Morning Glory. It is lightly deep fried and comes with the nicest seafood sauce. It was a great way to start the meal.

Then came out a spicy fish soup, it was really delicious.

For lunch only Annie, Noot’s best friend had came along. Annie lives with us 6 days a week as they are both doing work experience together at the same hotel and same shift.

Miss Noot looked pretty happy for her special day.

The next dish was also another favourite, deep fried pork cutlet.

And the food got better, if this was possible, chicken and cashew nuts.

And to round it all off some deep fried prawns in a tempura batter. The meal as always was great. I have never had a bad meal there. All up with drinks came to 410 Baht.

It was then some more games for me. Miss Noot and Annie were heading to Swenson’s for ice-cream; I had to pick up the last of her present.

A few weeks ago I started wracking my brain, trying to think of what to buy Miss Noot. She doesn’t need jewelry as she doesn’t wear what she has now. I don’t buy her clothes very often as what I believe is fashionable and might look great on her, she mightn’t like.

In the end I decided to do something stupid. Over the past 4 years I have taken thousands of photographs, tens of thousands and they are all stored away on back up external hard drives. We have printed a few but many were used for this blog and that was it.

So I started searching all the folders and pulling out pictures for Miss Noot. I would then Photoshop the pictures that needed it. This ended up becoming a bit of a beast. After a week I had 400 pictures and still so many folders to search.

In the end there are 718 pictures in total. Most were printed at the standard size but I also had twenty pictures, what I deemed would be special to her printed in 12 x 18 inches. All up this cost around 6,000 Thai Baht.

So I picked up the last of her pictures and speed home and then returned to Swensens for ice cream.

The first thing when Miss Noot got home was a photo album, one of four I bought. Then after making her wait for five minutes I got the rest of her gift.

I brought out the pictures and instantly there was a bewildered smile. Once she started opening the small holders, her amazing smile lit up and Noot and Annie were in conversation about times gone by.

The pictures were a gift I thought she would enjoy, and she did. The problem is she only had 15 minutes before she had to leave for work. So this meant many of the pictures haven’t been looked at yet, also I haven’t shown her the large 12 x 18 photos yet.

I am sure the next few weeks or months will involve arranging the pictures in the albums and then changing the arrangements as well.

It was funny when I was looking through all the old folders and the great memories that came flooding back from different times that I had forgotten about, but as soon as I had seen the picture I felt like I was there.

Anyway, it was a bit of a different gift. The only thing left to do tonight is light her candles when she walks through the door at around 12:30am, even though this will technically be the 20th of July and the day after her birthday.

To see any pictures in crystal clear large sizes, simply click on one and go to my Flickr page.

Brunty

Tired and Grumpy in Isaan Thailand.

I haven’t posted for a few days as it has been hectic at work as we have exams next week and this means a lot of revision for the students. This then turns into too much marking.

When I taught older students, years 11 and 12 I used to post answer keys in the classes and the students were responsible to check their work and correct their mistakes. If they were having a particular problem with some work, they could see me and I would then try and help them to understand the grammar point, tense or so forth we were studying.

When you teach young learners you cannot do this. You have to check every comma, capital letter, full stop and so forth. The last few days have been very tiring mentally. Also add to this the late nights watching the cricket, Tour De France, and The British Open has meant hardly any sleep. But this is my own entire fault.

Add to that the Thai lessons I have been studying each night, some nights I am really into it and three hours have flown by, other nights I am so frustrated trying to work out some of the craziest rules I have ever heard relating to a language, then put them into practice when I am reading a sentence just about makes me blow my brain at times.

The last two nights I haven’t been in bed before 2am, and then I get up a little later in the morning at 6:30am. Each night I then say, “I am going to bed early tonight.” But of course this just doesn’t happen. It is now 11:30pm and I haven’t even started my Thai lesson for tonight, I don’t even know if I will!

The late nights and lack of sleep has not helped my patience at school. Some small things that don’t usually bug me too much have made me express my real thoughts a little too loudly.

We have a special ceremony next week; I am not going into what it is now. The students have been doing things all week for it here and there. Nothing has affected me though; I have been lucky and not missed a single class.

This morning again I wasn’t affected but other teachers were. If you have ever taught in Thailand you know that Thai people just do not seem to be able to tell you in advance that something is happening. The majority of Thais are really terrible at this.

I knew something was going on this morning when I arrived as a lot of the car park was blocked off to cars. The big ceremony wasn’t until next week so straight away I knew it was a practice session.

And sure enough, about 30 minutes later when the first Thai teacher arrived in our office and told me that this was in fact happening, a full dress rehearsal practice. I shook my head.

What this meant is the first period of the day was cancelled; this didn’t worry me as this was a free period for me anyway. Other teachers who have to test outside the official exam days, had tests or exams to do for the first period and then they were told to postpone them and do them the next week after the official exam days. The practice was much more important.

I really wanted to scream out a fuc* me dead. I wanted to ask if all the senior people were insane in the school. I wanted to ask, “why the fuc*en hell do they need to practice for?”

The students lined up in a different part of the school, near the statue of the man who is the centre of attention this week and then next. That is the only new thing the students have to do.

Apart from that, they were made to sing the Thai National Anthem a few times. The students sing this every day. 5 days a week for 40 weeks, I am sure they can sing it in their sleep.

They have to recite the student pledge; they do this every day as well. When the students do this, it is with such a monotone sound as I think deep down they are entirely sick of it.

They then sing the school song, this is sung to death. Some assembles the students might sing it multiple times if certain people think the students haven’t done it with enough pride and passion.

And so on it goes. The students are sort of put through a mental torture test. But for the teachers it is worse.

This morning I was told I had to join in the practice and I as politely as I could, told the person that this would not be happening. I think I mentioned that having my finger nails pulled off by pliers would be more enjoyable.

The funny thing is that also a lot of other foreign teachers did the same. I think there might have been one foreign teacher who participated in the practice session. During that time there were some very funny conversations that took place. It was an enjoyable hour.

Tuesday is the actual real day for the ceremony, so Monday it could be another practice session, I am not sure. We haven’t been told anything, but again we hardly ever are.

I am secretly praying to god, Buddha or whatever higher being there is meant to be, that it absolutely pisses down rain on Tuesday. I think I will even do an Indian rain dance on Monday night.

Yes, this is mean. And maybe a lot of it is just from the lack of sleep. The other horrible thing is I have to go to school tomorrow being Saturday and also Sunday. It is for teacher training. This is my fifth such installment over the years.

I can honestly and unashamedly say that only one of the four previous training courses was worth it. The other three I took maybe a few small things away that I considered useful. This wasn’t just my observation either but many of the other teachers at the time as well felt the same.

I am hoping that tomorrow it is going to be informative, useful and enjoyable. I will go there with an open mind. I just hope that the first hour doesn’t slam it shut and have me disappearing at the first tea break of the morning.

I will keep you all posted. I must go now as my Thai lesson isn’t going away sadly.

Tonight I am studying “syllables with initial coupled low consonants + short vowel + dead final consonant. Then repeat that with a long vowel.”

I know that you are all enthralled by the sound of this but I am not. The sad thing is it’s very important to understand this part of Thai language if you want to pronounce words with the correct tones.

As I write this at 12.29am with much sorrow, Australia is getting their butts kicked in the cricket. England made 425 and the Aussies are 8 for 156 at stumps on day 2. I am keeping the faith.

Brunty

Lenten Candle Festival Canvas Artwork, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand 2009

I have just recently written about the Lenten Candle Festival that takes place each year here in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand. I wrote about the International Wax Sculpting Competition here and also here as well.

I then took some pictures of the candle floats at the following links, here, here and then of the parade here.

Another part of the festival is some canvass art work that is made from of course candle wax. Some of the works were really interesting and I was impressed on how they use the different coloured waxes to create their masterpieces. It can’t be as easy as using paint.

The following are pictures of some of the artworks.






















Hope you enjoyed and you can see any of the pictures in much larger sizes just by clicking on them.

Brunty

The H1N1 Media Circus Marches On, Thailand.

The Thai cabinet on Tuesday (today) approved a 600 million baht budget for the purchase of two million doses of A(H1N1) flu vaccine from France.

The cabinet also agreed to the manufacturer's condition that it would not be responsible for any side effects from the use of the vaccine.

Great the government is already taking on the responsibility of any serious side affects from the drug. If a person dies from side affects the government can offer some pathetic amount of money to the family and just move on.

The cabinet also approved an additional 250 million baht budget to buy another 10 million tablets of oseltamivir antiviral medication.

The purchase will increase the stockpile of the drug to 15 million tablets, which should be enough to deal with the flu outbreak.

Benefits of Antiviral Drugs

Treatment: If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious influenza complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started as soon after getting sick as possible, and might not work if started more than 48 hours after illness starts.

On July 7, 2009 the World Health Organization announced the identification of a third person with oseltamivir resistant novel H1N1 virus infection.

Three people fully recovered after uncomplicated illnesses and did not have contact with each other. Two of the three people are reported to have developed illness while taking oseltamivir preventatively after an exposure to a close contact with novel influenza A (H1N1). The third person had no known exposure to oseltamivir.

Results from ongoing testing of novel influenza A (H1N1) viruses indicate that oseltamivir resistance remains rare.

So does this mean that buying this antiviral drug will be useless, as it won’t help them recover quicker and make the virus so severe?

The interim recommendations for the use of antiviral medications for chemoprophylaxis and treatment have not been changed http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/recommendations.htm.


The Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will go on local Thai Channel 11 at 8:30 pm Tuesday (tonight) in an effort to pacify the panicked public following the type-A (H1N1) influenza outbreak.The prime minister will address the public together with senior doctors from the Public Health Ministry.

This is good news as so much of what has come out of his mouth has been nothing but dribble. I hope he lets the senior doctors speak, and I hope the doctors are intelligent and up to date with the current recommendations from the WHO.

The government also announced today the closing of all schools in Bangkok, but not nationwide, again this is uncalled for and is doing nothing but scaring people.

All the hundreds of thousands of students who will be out of school for a week starting tomorrow will now be going to clubs, cinemas, karaoke bars and booths and so forth where there is a much better chance of them contacting the H1N1 virus that they would have had from attending school.

There was a rumour, a rumour that the wearing of facemasks were going to be mandatory in Bangkok. I would for one be telling whoever to jam the mask so far up their arse you could pull it out of their mouth.

I am not taking this virus lightly, it has the potential to be dangerous but awareness is what is needed, not scaring people to death and making them so paranoid they run to a hospital if they cough or someone sneezes near them.

Brunty

H1N1 Scaremongering by the Thai Government.

The Thai government is trying to scare the Thai people into believing the current H1N1 virus could be the death of so many people.

They continue to release idiotic statements through the media and it seems that people high up in the government are probably the main culprits.

Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kajornprasart said on Monday, “The government plans to buy 10 million face masks and distribute them to people to help curb the H1N1 flu outbreak.”

I have said before and this is directly from the World Health Organization’s website.

Using a mask incorrectly, may actually increase the risk of transmission, rather than reduce it. If masks are to be used, this measure should be combined with other general measures to help prevent the human-to-human transmission of influenza.

Australia
The Australian Government, in concert with other agencies, recommends that sick people wear a mask as well as wash their hands regularly. They agree with the UK and the United States and feel that the general public does not gain any protection from wearing masks during daily activities because it gives a false sense of security. People in general forget, or do not even realize, that H1N1 flu can be picked up from surfaces contaminated from droplets expelled while sneezing and again a mask may not stop small particles.

The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta USA (CDC)
Does not recommend face mask usage for daily activity. There are two excellent detailed tables about wearing facemasks, if you click on this link you can browse through them.

So why is the Thai government going to buy 10,000,000 masks and give to people who will probably only enhance their chances of contracting the virus.

The deputy prime minister then went on to say: He personally believed it was now time to temporarily close all schools so as to control the spread of influenza A(H1N1).

This man must be totally insane, or cannot read English or hasn’t cared to speak to health experts. It is his opinion! Bend me over and you know what!

The deputy prime minister chairs a committee on dealing with the disease.

Now this is just so scary that this man saying things that are just so way off centre is the main man for a committee on the virus. God help Thailand.

On Monday the deputy prime minister suggested that all schools should suspend their classes now to prevent the spread of the disease.

"The suspension should last two to four weeks during which major cleanup operation would be conducted," he said, "After that, the schools can resume the class and arrange makeup classes later".

Fuc* me! Close for two to four weeks. What for? The virus lives for 2 – 8 hours on a surface. Why close for 4 weeks?

Many Thai ministers need to keep their overly silly opinions to themselves and stop scaring the wit out of the Thai people; they need to let 'health experts' deal with media releases. They need to only present the facts that are known on the disease and not innuendo.

I do agree that the Thai people need to be informed, but not through a scaremongering campaign. Make the everyday person understand the very basic things they can do to increase their chances of not contracting the virus.

I just hope that a miracle happens and the PM and DPM and other ministers stop letting the verbal dribble pouring out of their mouths continue to flow.

Brunty

Lenten Candle Festival, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand. Part 3

Here is part 3 of the Lenten Candle Festival from Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand. These pictures are from the actual parade day. It was hot and crowded like always.

On the parade day the candles do a large circuit of some streets near our main park. The candle floats are followed by trucks carrying people dancing, singing and playing instruments and then a mass of girls dancing traditionally. It is a beautiful sight but is too crowded nowadays.















Brunty

Is the Thai Government Over Reacting to H1N1, Thailand.

Here in Thailand the H1N1 virus or ‘swine flu’ paranoia is hitting fever pitch.

It isn’t bad enough that the Thai media is blowing everything out of proportion. Hospitals are being overrun with people who have the slightest cough or temperature.

Rumours are flying about the place; students have supposedly died from swine flu from a local school. I call a teacher from this school and again I am told this isn’t true.

If you accidently clear your throat in public, people look at you like you are a leper or may be carrying a plague like virus.

Now the Thai government has plunged to new deaths of stupidity. I had been reading for days about what the Thai government was thinking of doing, but today it became reality.

These people who are meant to be leaders of this country really lack the most basic levels of common sense. The Thai cabinet passed today and ordered ‘tutorial schools’ or schools that teach from Monday to Friday from 4pm onwards and also on Saturdays and Sundays to close for two weeks.

Why do these extra curricular schools have to close you ask?

It’s apparently because a few students have caught the H1N1 virus from these schools. I don’t know how the government has come to this conclusion, but they have.

Also they have asked, just asked ‘internet cafes’ to also close for the two week period to help prevent spreading the H1N1 virus.

During the two weeks the owners are expected to clean their businesses from top to bottom and then sit around with a finger in their arse.

Why is the government adding to this paranoia about H1N1?

Why doesn’t the government close the very popular and crowded karaoke booths, also cinemas, shopping centres just to name a few places to start with.

The kids who are contracting the virus could be getting it from anywhere they have been. It is so stupid to pinpoint just two places when there are other establishments that are worse.

A friend watched people wearing masks at a very popular nightclub here in Isaan, pulling their masks down to drink there alcoholic drinks and then put their masks back on. He said he was pissing himself laughing.

As soon as you have touched the actual mask with your hands you have contaminated it. It needs to be thrown away.

So these people, who were wearing masks, end up contracting the virus and automatically think they couldn’t have caught it from the nightclub as they were wearing a dirty, virus filled mask.

Let’s look at a few facts on H1N1.

H1N1 Influenza A. The H means hemagglutinin and the N means neuraminidase and the 1s refer to their antibody type. Influenza A is a genus of the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses, and refers to the fact that the virus is first identified in an animal, usually a pig or a bird.

H1N1 is transmitted the way any viral disease is transmitted -- person-to-person contact, by touching something someone with a virus has already touched, or from droplets in the air which come from a sneeze or a cough of a person who has the virus.

There is no vaccine available for this strain of H1N1, yet. A vaccine may be developed, but if so, it will not be available until later this year.

This virus is not as dangerous as avian flu.

The H1N1 virus is not airborne, to be considered an airborne virus, the microorganism would have to survive or remain in the air for long periods of time. The H1N1 virus, like all influenza viruses do not stay in the air in some sort of suspended animation. When a person sneezes, the virus is transferred via the droplets of the sneeze, if someone is infected this way it is known as infection by "Droplet contact" or a "Respiratory Route"

Myths

Wearing surgical masks can protect against H1N1. Not exactly. The only type of a mask that can relatively protect against the virus is N95. However, it's very difficult to wear it for long.

Quarantine will save everybody. Don't believe it. It is absolutely unrealistic to completely isolate and localize a respiratory virus infection.

This from WHO (World Health Organization)

If you are not sick you do not have to wear a mask.

If you are caring for a sick person, you can wear a mask when you are in close contact with the ill person and dispose of it immediately after contact, and cleanse your hands thoroughly afterwards.

If you are sick and must travel or be around others, cover your mouth and nose.

Using a mask correctly in all situations is essential. Incorrect use actually increases the chance of spreading infection.

Yes, it is a concern as people are dying and getting sick but the normal flu also does this. WHO has raised H1N1 to a pandemic alert. WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus.

What needs to be done by governments, instead of scaremongering the people is educate them on the correct procedures on how they can enhance their chances of not contracting the disease.

Wash hands frequently with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand cleaner when soap and water are not available. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

These are just a few.

Brunty

Lenten Candle Festival Ubon Ratchathani Thailand 2009 Part 2

These are more pictures from the night viewing of some of the candle floats from The Lenten Candle Festival Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand 2009. You can see more pictures in part 1 here if you like.


























Hope you enjoyed some more of the candle floats from the Lenten Candle Festival 2009.

Brunty

Lenten Candle Festival Ubon Ratchathani Thailand 2009

I went down to the Lenten Candle Festival here in Ubon Ratchathani Thailand to look at the candles arriving for tomorrow’s parade. The following are some pictures of some of the floats.


















These are just a few pictures from the night before the big parade. There are many more to come but it is 1.10am on Wednesday. I had been watching the Tour De France like every night but now need some sleep. I was watching in awe of Lance Armstrong and the Astana team in tonight’s time trial. I am hoping that lance Armstrong can win this years tour, not just for himself but also for his cause.

Wat Sri Ubon Rattanaram Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

I had gone to check on the International Wax Sculpting Competition the other day, and while there I thought I would pop across the road to Wat Sri Ubon Rattanaram or Wat Sri Thong.

I am sorry for the crooked picture, very bad photography. This is the main Wiharn/Viharn.





The bell tower or drum tower.

This is the temple school.

An old bell or drum tower.

A fish tank.

And large fish.

The temple museum, it houses many beautiful old artifacts and there is no photography allowed. I put my camera away when I went inside. There are signs in English and Thai everywhere saying no pictures allowed but while I was there a minder of the museum had to tell two Thai people not to take pictures. One lady asked her, “Why” she couldn’t take a photo. A real stupid bit*h.



A lady offers a prayer while her young son plays.

International Wax Sculpting Competition, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

I wrote about the International Wax Sculpting Competition which is part of the Lenten Candle Festival, last Friday. Today is Monday and I thought I would go back and check on how the sculptures were all looking 4 days on. They have till tomorrow to finish the sculptures.

I have the names and also what each sculpture represents from the artists perspective. I will give the name of each sculpture but I am not going to go into what the sculpture is about because if you click on this link it will take you to the website that has all this information for you. Also there are pictures from the very first day of the competition.

This is the Thai sculpture, and is called ‘Miracle in Mind’ and still not complete. Small finishing touches still to be done.

The Hungarian sculpture is called ‘Pillar of Love’ and close to being completed.



The Chinese Sculpture “Magic Dragon”. It’s still my favourite. I love the detail and it still isn’t finished.


The Malaysian Sculpture “The Dragon of Tasik Chini”. I really like this sculpture as well.

The Romanian sculpture “Genesis”, I thought it was a plough of some sort. I am not very broad minded.


The Japanese sculpture “Children’s Eyes” I had a close look at it today and I am very impressed with the lines and details the sculptor has produced.

The Indonesian sculpture “Superheroes in a Box”. It has really come together since 4 days ago.

The Bulgarian sculpture “Flame 1”, I also like this even though it looks like a simple design.

The Chilean sculpture “Gift of Life”, I am looking forward to a closer inspection of this when it is completed.

Picking a winner is going to be very hard. I would hate to be a judge. I am leaning towards the Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese and the Chilean to fill the top spots, but we will see in a few days time.

Brunty

Lenten Candle Festival Preparations, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

Here in Ubon Ratchathani the Lenten Candle Festival is about to begin. Tomorrow being the 7th of July all the candles will be on show for the public to see.

The huge candles from local temples are still being worked on. With less than 30 hours before the candles have to be presented to judges and the public, work is frantically taking place.

The base of the candles is wire, this is then plastered and the wax is then applied on top. Here a worker is smoothing the plaster on a figure on the candle float.

Senior monks and also novice monks help with the candle preparation.

This man is very busy; he is melting wax and filling moulds. The candle float still needs a lot of wax to cover the plaster.

The workers use hot irons that are put in coals till they are red hot, they then join the wax moulds together. Smoke rises as the iron is put to work.

The monk has wax passed to him and then a hot iron, he goes to work joining and smoothing the wax.

So these monks and workers have so much to do in little time. They will have plenty of help over the next 24 hours or so. By the time the candle float is on the line it will look amazing.

Brunty

Peppers Bakery and Cafe, Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

I have been wanting to go to Peppers Bakery and Café, it is owned and run by a guy who I have known for a while through the internet. We had spoke many times over the World Wide Web but never met in person. He is an Aussie (so has to be alright) and his partner in the business is a Kiwi, but a decent kiwi.

Okay I am joking nearly all the kiwis I have met and have as friends are great people and I love New Zealand, it is a beautiful country. If you ever get the chance to travel to New Zealand definitely do it but get out into the amazing countryside and away from the cities.


View Ubon Ratchathani in a larger map
Okay back to Peppers Bakery and Café. It is in Ubon Ratchathani or the gateway to Isaan. How do you find Peppers Bakery and Café, you can click and this link will show you from their website. Or look at the pink marker on my map of Ubon.

So today I finally loaded my amazing other half, Miss Noot into the car and our lovely niece Nong Ja and headed to the bakery 5 minutes away. When we got there and I finally met Memok, his alias and he also writes a blog which I follow but he hasn’t been able to update as often because of the new business venture. Check out the blog if you get a chance as there are a lot of interesting archived posts to read about his life in Thailand and abroad to date.

Back to Peppers, I’m sorry. Now I am an idiot, I already know this so you don’t have to tell me. I forgot to take pictures of the bakery from outside. I did get this shot from inside the bakery. The bakery has been set up well. It has the ambience many businesses miss here in Ubon. It is spotless and the relaxing atmosphere makes perfect for eating breakfast, lunch or a late afternoon snack.

I decided to wreck this peacefulness and aura, I brought along our lovely niece, but today she was going to be a little monster. Well she wasn’t so bad. She is after all just 1 year old and was more interested in being toured about the shop than sitting at the table.

As the name suggest, it is a bakery and a café. We ordered our meals and I had a chat with Memok about this and that. Before we knew it the meals had arrived. One of the dishes we ordered was a Thai staple, spicy seafood salad. It was delicious and not ridiculously spicy. The squid was fresh and cooked to perfection, many times squid is overcooked and too rubbery but this virtually fell apart in your mouth.

I ordered the chunky beef pie, Memok asked if I wanted chips and salad or peas and mash. Now any real Aussie already knows what I ordered, mash and peas of course and Memok said he knew I was going to say this. The pie was very good; to have an Aussie staple the meat pie with mash and peas was such a great trip down memory lane. Finding pies in Ubon is hard and I don’t have an oven to make them. Plus I cannot cook. I savored the pie and took my time enjoying the flavours, also I had to wrestle Nong Ja at times who was crawling onto the table.

Miss Noot ordered chicken fried rice; this was mainly because she was sharing with Nong Ja. She would have tried something different but she can do this another time. The fried rice was given ‘a big thumbs’ up by Nong Ja who ate a truck load and also Miss Noot who helped polish the plate clean. I didn’t get to try any at all.

I said Nong Ja was being a monster, she wasn’t being one of those horrible kids throwing tantrums or such but the high chair that Memok offered us, Ja was using it as a ladder to make her way onto the table. Ja has never sat in a high chair before and it showed.

Now to the bakery section, when you walk to the seating you pass all this lovely golden looking bread. It is all baked fresh by them and is sugar free, here in Thailand nearly everything is full of sugar and bread is so sickly sweet.

This is the white loaf and wheat loafs for sale, the white loaf is huge and I will try this at a later date, I bought a loaf of wheat bread which is on the right. I can happily tell you as of 30 minutes ago it is a pleasure to taste bread like it was back at home. I made a vegemite sandwich, now that is Australian and I still have a huge grin on my face.

These are almond coated croissants, they looked mouth-watering. There is a big range of pastries and slices to tempt you.

When you first walk into Peppers, you are greeted by a display case full of cakes and other goodies. The temptation to go straight to it and gaze at all the delectable looking deserts is too strong. I had to remember I had to eat my lunch first, actually order my lunch first.

The cakes, wow! There are plenty of cake places about Ubon but the cakes are basic and coated in cheap toppings, these cakes made me want to forget the lunch menu and just start sampling them all. This butter coffee cake was only 200 Baht and I wanted to buy a whole cake but Miss Noot wouldn’t allow this.

The chocolate strawberry cake was also so tempting. The presentation of the cakes is top class. A friend had a 3 pound cake made by Peppers for his daughter’s birthday but I haven’t seen him since to ask what it was like. Miss Noot ordered a cheese cake that is currently sitting in the fridge but mightn’t be for much longer. She is at work until midnight.

I am a big fan of these; they are a chocolate ball that has a soft filling inside. I had to try these, no questions asked.

Then I saw these choc balls with almonds. They were quickly ordered and placed into a bag. I can now honestly say there are none left, I ate 5 of them. They were so, so good. I should have bought 2 packs.

Peppers Bakery and Café serves an all day breakfast menu, that offers an Aussie breakfast I am going to try in the next few weeks. There is a good range of western and Thai food all at very reasonable prices. The bread, cakes, slices and pastries are a definite must try.

I am going to have a go at the hamburger next time; I haven’t had a proper hamburger with the lot since I left home many years ago.

So if you live in Ubon Ratchathani or are visiting, be sure to drop by Peppers Bakery and Café and show some support to the two expats and their wives.

Brunty

Nong Ja My Thai Niece Returns, Isaan Thailand.

I have written about my beautiful little niece Nong Ja on many occasions. Recently I blogged about how Joom and Jack her parents had decided to take her to Bangkok and Jack’s parents would look after her for 2 or 3 months.

I wasn’t happy with this idea and decision but she isn’t my daughter. So the day came and Ja and Joom flew to Bangkok. Joom stayed in Bangkok for a week and then returned home last Tuesday. On Wednesday morning I was a bastard when I saw Joom and ribbed her about leaving her daughter in Bangkok.

On Friday I was very busy. I was out and about when Noot rang and told me to come home. I tried to put coming home till later but Noot told me it was very important. I asked what was so important, but it could not be told over the phone.

It has to be top secret if it cannot be explained across a phone line.

I made my way home and parked the motorcycle, made my way to the front door and there just inside the fly screen door I seen Nong Ja sitting on the floor with a massive grin on her face.

As soon as I opened the door she summoned me to pick her up and I did in a flash.

It seems that Joom took a bus on Wednesday night to Bangkok, and then on Friday they flew home together. This was all because she missed Ja so much and of course Jack missed her too.

So the past two days I have been baby sitting, today Ja decided to rearrange the dish holder. She pulled plates and bowls out and put them wherever she liked.

Then it was the Tupperware containers, they were pulled out and lids tossed here and there.

It was lunchtime, Noot and her friend Annie had returned with the goodies and we sat down to a juggling act of feeding Ja and also trying to stop her putting her hands into everything.

Tonight Ja and I are alone, we have been playing stupid games as usual and then Ja decided to pull all the paperwork out from under the printer. I am sure her intentions were good but now I have to piece together all the lessons that are now mixed up.

Ja was wondering if there was a problem. She was happily putting paper here and there. Eventually the novelty wore off and she climbed back onto the bed and 20 minutes later she is now off in dreamland.

So my little niece is back, I am happy, Noot is happy, Ben is happy, well everyone is happy. It means less time again for some things but I am more than happy to give up this time to be able to look after my beautiful little niece.

Brunty

H1N1 Virus Isaan Thailand.

I reported on the outbreak of swine flu or H1N1 virus. Our school took the steps early to close the school after a student showed the symptoms of the virus.

On Thursday the doors were closed to students and the teachers went home at 11am after cleaning their homeroom classroom. I blogged on this here if you want to see pictures and such.

Yesterday, I needed my good black dress shoes, I leave them at work. When I arrived there was a smell of Dettol about the school.

I rode my motorbike to the teacher’s office and then I saw a large truck and workers gathered about the place.

I was informed that they had cleaned the entire school with some sort of cleaner. They went into each classroom and sprayed the desks and floors and such.

Why the fuc* did they ask us to wash the floors the other day with the same detergent? I suppose, it was just to waste an hour of my time.

I was told I couldn’t go into the office as I would contaminate the room. No one could enter any of the rooms until the 8th of July or no one can go into any of the rooms for 5 days.

From everything I have read is that most countries are against school closures but making sure people who are showing symptoms of illness remain home for 7 days or if ill longer than 7 days, 24 hours after the flu symptoms have subsided.

Now from the Centre of Disease Control about schools state:

Some viruses and bacteria can live from 20 minutes up to 2 hours or more on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks.

Some websites claim the H1N1virus can live for 2 – 8 hours on some surfaces.

But what all health departments are saying from first world countries are to promote a clean school, make students aware on how they can prevent contracting the disease.

They state that frequently touched surfaces should be cleaned regularly, or every day.

When the students return on the 9th of July the school is going to do an awareness campaign with them, showing them how they can prevent catching the H1N1 virus. This is a good idea. I read at one site it said ‘hands need to be washed for 20 seconds to be sure of cleanliness.’

When we return to school we are to not use air conditioning. I have searched and searched and cannot find anywhere that recommends to do this as a precaution. I have searched government health warnings and what to do and not to do and there are no recommendations about air conditioning.

The use of face masks is another thing. I read the correct way to use a mask and all the do’s and don’ts. To keep your mask sterile is impossible, if you followed the guide you would have to handle it so carefully and need to change it very often.

The people who need to wear the masks are the sick people, but these very people should not be out in public but quarantined at their home for 7 days. This is where the problem lies.

Anyway, it is all down to common sense. If people who are sick stay at home and the healthy people use cleanliness, you should be okay, easy hey J

Our student was confirmed with H1N1 and his temperature peaked at 48 degree Celsius. Poor little guy was burning up, but now he has been hovering around 38 – 41 which is still high at times.

So, the return at school will be interesting, I don’t know how much teaching will be done the first few days.

Also a rumour shot around Ubon today that a 15 year old girl from another school died from H1N1 virus or complications involved with it.

I was told this from an Inspector of the police, but when I asked a teacher from the school of the deceased girl, he said the girl died from am motorcycle accident. Well that is what he was told.

H1N1 is a serious thing; we don’t want it to become pandemic. I wasn’t born of course for the 1918 Spanish Flu, it is thought to have killed 50 million people worldwide.

In 1957 the Asian Flu struck, this infected many people worldwide but was milder and was only thought to have killed 2 million people.

And in 1968 the Hong Kong Flu was thought to have killed 1 million people.

We don’t want H1N1 to become like this, so awareness campaigns need to be run by governments informing the people about the ways to prevent spreading the virus and also contracting it.

Thai TV has been doing this, but the media are beating it up and this causes some panic with people flocking to hospitals with runny noses and a sore throat.

The sad thing is sensationalizing things is what the media of the world does best. It sells papers and this is what is important.

So to all, I hope you don’t get this virus but if you do most people will just have the flu and then some will become very ill. If you are relatively healthy you shouldn’t have to worry about it too much. Overweight, elderly or people with existing ailments and very young children have a higher chance of becoming seriously ill from the virus.

How is the H1N1 virus being reported in your areas? Are there cases? What are the governments doing there? Are you worried about the virus? Like to hear your ideas.

Brunty

International Wax Sculpting Competition, Thailand Ubon Ratchathani 2009.

I ventured to our local park called Thung Sri Muang, this week here in Ubon Ratchathani we have our biggest festival, The Lenten Candle Festival and the city is booked out for around 5 days.

At the park I went to look at this, wax.

There is an International Wax Sculpture Competition taking place. This is Thailand’s entrant, Tawatchai Homthong. The contestants have 15 days to turn a huge block of solid wax into their masterpiece.

Each master sculptor has vocational students to help them create their masterpiece.

The designs have to be finished by the 7th of July, so in another 4 days. The sculptures are taking shape but there is still a lot of work to be done.

The Thai master at work.

This is an international competition and this entrant is from Hungary. Her name is Apolka Eros, and she has been colouring some of her wax. On the ground you can see the green wax that has been pulled out of a mould.

There was one girl helping her, the others were melting wax and pouring it into the moulds.

At the moment it doesn’t look spectacular but over the coming days all the important finishing touches will take place and it will transform into a work of beauty.

And sticking the green wax panels on is easy, a heat gun to melt the back a little and then it is simply pushed onto the main structure.

This is the Chinese wax sculpture entrant.

The vocational students chisel the wax to the sculptors design.

Chinese wax sculptor Wang Jianhua watching a student carve the wax.

Two vocational girl students were carving some delicate designs.

The Malaysian wax sculpture entrant.

Malaysian wax sculptor Yong Chong Ming John at work.

A Thai vocational girl student was carving the wax using a simple box cutter knife.

Malaysian wax sculptor Yong Chong Ming John.

This is the Belarus sculptor, Viktor Severin and his sculpture taking shape.

The Romanian Sculpture taking shape. This has been cut out of one of the massive solid blocks and now this is all that is left at the moment.

Romanian sculptor, Bogdan Severin Hojbota at work.

The Japanese entrant in the wax sculpture competition.

The Japanese wax sculpture is looking interesting.

The Japanese sculptor Tanaka Komei checking his work.

The Indonesian wax entrant was looking like a box.

But this centre piece will obviously go on top when finished and I am sure that the base is going to be spiced up as well. You can see some Thai students gathering information about the sculpture. Today many students and people were wearing masks since the H1N1 flu virus has hit Ubon.

Indonesian sculptor at work, Deden Henden Durahman.

This is the Bulgarian wax entrant by Liliya Pobornkov.

The Bulgarian has reduced her solid wax block to these 3 separate sculptures. It is impressive but the sculptor wasn’t to be seen.

Sharp sculpting tools are a must and there were grinders about the place for the students to give there tools have a razor like edge.

And the last wax entrant by Chilean, Gricelda Lopez Paredes.

There is lots of this happening by the vocational students, filling small holes and heating the wax and smoothing the surface.

The wax is surprisingly hard; this student was cutting pieces off with a tomahawk. He had to give the wax a really good hit to chip small bits off.

Another student is picking up the small pieces of wax and throwing them into the drum.

The student then pours the already melted wax over the solid wax to quicken its melting time. The wax is then scooped into small buckets and whizzed off somewhere, obviously into a mould. I should have followed one of the bucket runners.

And there are plenty of visitors, especially school students. These tiny little kindergarten students came from a school nearby to check out the progress of the sculptures. Well truthfully they didn’t seem too interested. The boys all wanted to go and watch the crane that is putting all the grandstands into place for the candle processing which takes place next week.

So that is a small look at some of the Lenten Candle Festival, the huge 30 plus metres wax works and all the smaller entrants will be unveiled next week by temples and villages from across the area. I have a busy few days planned for Saturday and Sunday and will see if time prevents me to post or not.

My early favourites are the Chinese and Malaysian entrants. I like dragons and the sculptures already have so many small details that are breathtaking. The Malaysian sculpture is going to be very special I think.

I will take much more detailed pictures of the completed sculptures on the 7th.

Brunty

Swine Flu H1N1 and Dancing, Isaan Thailand.

I am a free man until the 9th of July. I wrote yesterday, about the rumour of a student having the swine flu or H1N1 virus. This wasn’t confirmed late yesterday afternoon but a parent had called the homeroom teacher saying that their son had been diagnosed with it.

I went to school as usual today and when I arrived I was met by a very unusual sight. Usually there are a handful of teachers when I get to school. Not many of us get there before 7am every day. This morning there were teachers outside the gates of the school holding pamphlets of some kind.

I parked the motorbike, dropped my computer off in the office and went off to investigate what was going on, but I had an idea.

The school had closed, until the 9th of July. It has actually happened at a very good time as we were having a 5 day holiday this weekend anyway. So it is just being extended a few days.

Outside the school cars, vans and motorbikes were stopped entering the school and the parents or students were informed about the closure and handed the pamphlet that gave information on what was happening and also what can be done to help prevent the spreading and also contracting of the H1N1 virus.

This will have to have thrown some families into some chaos; there wasn’t a chance to forewarn them about the closure. For parents with small children who both work it will mean taking sick days and stay at home with them.

I am sure for many who arrived at the gates of the school this morning to be met teachers informing them of what was happening would have been a shock and probably worried a few.

The cars and also the large trucks carrying students kept arriving and in large numbers as the morning wore on. Some students had to get off their transport as it doesn’t return to their villages, some many kilometres away until the afternoon.

Motorbike travel is the way in Thailand. It is cheap and most Thais cannot afford a car but can a motorbike or two. This is the usual way to transport your child. They sit in front of you as you can protect them they believe. Only one helmet is the norm in Thailand. Actually someone wearing a helmet is very strange as so many Thais don’t wear helmets.

And three on a motorbike, the standard set up. The smallest child is in front of the rider and the older girl sitting side saddle on the back. Again, just the one helmet.

Three more Thais went whizzing past the school.

Inside the school the usually busy courtyards were like ghost towns, the silence was eerie but very nice.

There were plenty who must have heard the rumour of the H1N1 virus as facemasks were the order of the day. There were some teachers and students sporting the latest fashion about the place.

There was a meeting at 8:30am and we were told that the school was still waiting for confirmation that the student in question actually had the H1N1 virus. The doctors were going to ring with the results during the morning. The school had taken the precaution of closing the school for the safety of the students and I commend them for this and also the way they have handled the whole situation. Teachers then cleaned their homeroom classroom. This was mine looking spotless.

Some students had to remain at the school, these were all girls. They have a very special date in a few days time and have many hours practice is needed.

Over the coming days these secondary 4 girls will be dancing until their feet are black and blue. They will represent the school at the Candle Festival, Ubon Ratchathani’s biggest festival for the year. I have blogged about this festival at the following links if you want to see pictures and read more about the day, here, here, here are just a few.


The girls will practice the exact bend of fingers, lifting of legs, placement of feet and so forth. It all has to be precise and the dance teacher is very strict with them. I will get video of the girls dancing at the festival.

And this girl will be their leader; she is to be followed if anyone forgets where they are. These girls will all be dressed identically on the day and you will not be able to recognize any of them when the make up, Thai dress and hair is complete.

I have a big weekend planned, there will be thousands of pictures taken over the coming 7 days and this will start tomorrow when I venture down to see the International wax carving competition and how this is proceeding.

Brunty

Swine Flu H1 N1 in Isaan Thailand.

There has been some interesting news late today. I had to teach last period and when I walked into the teacher’s room there was a flurry of conversation going on.

I heard ‘swine flu’ mentioned and that a student had tested positive and so forth. I put all my stuff away and waited until things had settled down and then asked what had happened.

Apparently a student from our primary section had been ill, his parents took him to hospital and they have apparently diagnosed it as H1N1.

There was a small panic as to if the school was going to be closed. Also should parents be notified and so forth? But this hadn’t been confirmed properly.

A senior administrator came to our section and said that they had spoke to the hospital and they hadn’t conformed it as H1N1, but this is a little hard to believe as the students parents called and said it had been confirmed as H1N1.

Someone then said that a large secondary school not too far from ours had been closed today as a student or students had tested positive to swine flu. This school has around 4,000 – 5,000 students.

I quickly called my Thai friend who teaches there and he confirmed the school is closed until the 9th of this month. There is a 5 day holiday included in this time.

Tomorrow is going to be very interesting. How many parents are going to panic and keep their kids home? How many are going to come to school with face masks?

One teacher in our office heard that a student had contracted swine flu and virtually sprinted to out clinic and got a face mask. When she returned wearing it I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Tomorrow could be a normal day of sorts or it could be an extended holiday if the student does in fact have H1N1.

I will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings and will inform you all when more information comes to hand.

It is funny to watch how some people react to such news, the next few days will be fun.

Brunty

Thai Speech Contest, Isaan Thailand.

Last weekend I ventured to the Sunee Grand Hotel, which was hosting an English seminar thingy which Mr. Andrew Biggs was presenting and also there was a speech contest taking place.

In the convention centre area there were various displays set up and some banners caught my eye. On the boards were some words of wisdom for all to take in.

Now I am not a well read man, the words of wisdom or inspiration on the left in yellow were by a man called William Arthur Ward, and after googling the man found out he is one of Americas most quoted writers.

His words are so true for teachers throughout the world, to be a great teacher you have to inspire your kids, to make them want to learn.

And I love Winston Churchill’s words.

Personally, I am always ready to learn; although I do not always like being taught.

I have students like this.

Anyway, I made my way to the speech contest area. There was an array of Andrew Biggs books for sale.

Andrew does stand out in a crowd, look at the melon. Andrew happily makes fun of himself often in articles I read. He has a very good sense of humour. Of course he is an Aussie.

Andrew returned from his short lunch break and was then thrust straight into the judging arena. Next time I get the chance I will take a picture of a judges card for such a contest they are something else at times.

There were two elderly people who obviously were important guests sitting and watching proceedings. I don’t know who they weren’t as they weren’t introduced.

This girl is from Assumption College and was first on stage. She is in primary 5, speaks English well and does work hard to achieve this. The speech she did she wrote herself and was tidied up by a Thai teacher. She got a little lost during the speech but recovered well.

For any person, especially young kids it takes a huge amount of guts to get up in front of a crowd, be it small or large. I give all the kids who partake in the competitions a big thumbs up for being brave and confident enough to show off their English skills.

The second contestant was from another local school with an English programme, she did speak well but she was very nervous.

The 3rd contestant was from a small local school with no English programme, the Thai teachers teach the English to the students. I love seeing kids like her having a go, she didn’t deliver the speech well, the speech was hard to follow but she got up there and gave it her best shot and these sorts of kids I reward in my classes. A kid who tries will always grade better than one who completes work well but never says a word the whole year.

This is another Assumption student, she was so, so nervous but did her best and for her first contest I was proud for her.

This girl is from another school with an English programme, Y.E.S or Youth Exchange School. This girl was confident and she started off her speech really well. She quoted some inspirational words from a past American President and then went into her speech. Her pronunciation was very good, be it with a small American accent (sorry I am an Aussie). Her speech was good, delivered well and with plenty of confidence.

This was another Assumption student and also her first contest, she could recite her speech forwards and backwards in the days leading to the competition, but with the eyes upon her she froze a few times but did well for her first competition.

There were still two more competitors to go but I had to go and teach my private classes.

I returned just before 4pm and was informed the YES student won, no surprise, the first girl on stage took second and third was the second girl on stage (I think from memory).

Andrew had taken notes and offered the contestants some advice for the future. The Thai teachers were very impressed with Mr. Andrew Biggs.

So that was the excitement from the speech competition in Ubon Ratchathani.

Brunty