Summertime

School has officially closed for the Thai summer. Today was bittersweet as I had to say goodbye to my graduating 12th graders, yet I cannot help but be excited for them to start the next chapter of their lives...I will miss their smiling faces.

Members of the Graduating Class Striking a Pose

Me and some of the graduating class

There was a feeling of celebration in the air today and everyone was relaxed and enjoying each other's company. We ate a large feast together, sang some songs, wished one another good luck and posed for a million photos.

Me and some of the soon to be 10th graders

This afternoon while sitting at home trying to figure out what to pack for my upcoming month and half off some of my 7th grade students came to my house to bring me some flowers and tell me they will miss me. How did I get so lucky?! It was the perfect end to a great day and wonderful semester. To think that when I first arrived students were too shy to even look at me, now they surprise me with a visit to my house!

Me and my flower bearers

My Flowers...

Tomorrow I leave on a fantastical adventure! I am backpacking around Thailand until May when school starts back up again. I will be travelling with a my fellow volunteers Patricia and Valerie and cannot wait, we have quite the itinerary. First we head to Northern Thailand and then down south to island hop and play in the ocean.

My mother and Jack will be meeting me here in Thailand the end of April and we will explore together as well before I bring them back to sleepy Nakhon Phanom to meet my students when school starts. Needless to say this may be my last post for awhile, but when I return I will have epic tales of awe inspiring adventures to share with you all.

Taste Taste

My roommate always says, "Kate, taste, taste?" When he wants me to try something new and for some reason I can never refuse...except in the case of "kai mot" (ant eggs). They really creep me out. So I said no.

However, I convinced some students who were being very "ai" (shy) to eat lunch with me the other day. They shared some of there food with me and of course they had ant eggs...but i couldnt say no to them! So I taste, taste. And it was not as horrific as I had imagined, there was so bursting of strange, gelatinous fluid...just a little squish. I did it, I may even do it again, as long as there is some Som Tom to go with it!

So lets see, since moving to Thailand I have sampled fried crickets, cow placenta soup, raw pork, turkey brains and red ant soup...its cicada season now, I guess I'll have to try one. What have you eaten today?

the ant eggs (with chili and fish sauce)

Som Tom (papaya salad), this dish is eaten with EVERY meal

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Moments here are passing so quickly, I find myself wanting to find someway to hold on to them longer, slow the blur of daily life down. Here is a list of some of my favorite things, the stuff I want to remember:

• The sound of students yelling "good morning teacher” on my walk to school.
• The burn of chili’s that only seems to get worse when you drink water.
• The way it feels when a student braids my hair.
• The student who fills in answers they don’t know on the test with “I love teacher Kate”.
• The joy of cooling powder.
• The way the "school bus" (really its just a old white pickup with a cage around the back) sounds coming down the road, I can pick it out from a mile away.
• The way my roommate Don says “WOW”! And the facial expression that goes along with it.
• Dancing with my students and having them beg me to “Sing a song”.
• The way the mountains of Laos look from across the Mekong on a clear day.
• All my dog friends who I have tamed with kindness and now follow me to and from school.
• Watching water buffalo go for a swim in the pond behind my house.
• Cheap, delicious, amazing fruit!
• Shy smiles from the villagers when I wander in town for the weekly market.
• The celebrity status of being a “farang” (foreigner) in Northeast Thailand.
• The geckos in my room that eat all the bugs that want to eat me.
• The strange, strange calls of the giant Tuki geckos looking for love.
• Isan folk music…its really catchy.
• Thai dancing, I wish my fingers could bend so gracefully.
• Homemade Tom Yum Kung (spicy shrimp soup) with coconut milk .
• Vibrant color everywhere.
• The ghost houses outside of people houses...gotta give those spirits a place to live.
• Rice fields lined with eucalyptus trees.
• Families of four on one small motor bike.
• Dried bananas coated in honey.
• Sticky rice
• The simplicity of life here.

This is the Life

I realize that I have almost been here for six months and still have not shown many pictures of where I live and what my daily life is like here in Wangkasae. Today I thought I would share.

My "baan" (house)

My dining room table, this is where I eat my meals

My bathroom. I bathe by using the pink bowl to pour water on myself. There is no hot water but as it is pretty hot here I don't really miss it too much. The gray bucket and bowl are to "flush" the toilet, and I have to say that my thighs are super strong and looking great after using a "squatter" for a few months.

My roommate in our "kitchen". We cook on an electrical Wok and use the rice cooker for rice (duh) but also to reheat food.

Our "sink", this is where I wash the dishes.

Our backyard trash pile. It gets burned twice a month.

This is where I get my bananas, its right in my backyard!

My "hong non" (bedroom), small but my cozy sanctuary!

My beautiful school and the views around it.

Some gifts made for me by students. They carved these flowers out of pumpkin.

Some drawings I have recieved that decorate my office area at school

Some shots of my students

Identical twins name Nueng and Song (One and Two)

Making me a picture

Thats all for now, I hope you enjoyed seeing a little more of what my life is like here and all the places and people that make it home.

Feelin' hot Hot HOT

When I first arrived here in Thailand it was hot, but not this hot. When I arrived in Nakhon Phanom the hot season was in its death throes and could only spit a few hot days at me. I sweated, I complained, I drank a lot of water, but it wasn't really a big deal; it didn't last very long.

Since November I have been living in the heaven that is the “cool season”, mild days that are not too hot, not too cold, just perfect. Now however I have to carry a handkerchief with me everywhere I go to wipe the sweat that drips constantly off my face. I finally understand the Thai philosophy of bathing and now take about three baths a day as they are the only relief from the heat. I apply cooling powder (talcum powder with menthol in it) to help keep me cool and absorb my sweat. Its so hot that even my shins sweat, I never even knew that was possible! Before when I would hang my laundry up to dry it would take about day to dry, now it is bone dry in a half hour. I am always thirsty, no matter how many liters of water I drink a day it is never enough.

This past Monday we had no school so I spent the day with a friends at their house. We took a minute walk to the store and back and my shirt was soaked through when we reached the shade of their house again. We spent the rest of the day lying on the tile floor in the kitchen because it was the only cool place we could find. My room becomes an oven and I cannot stand to be in it before 6pm. My little fan can barely combat the heat, it often just feels like hairdryer blowing hot air around my room. All I do is sweat and it makes me grumpy, lazy and a little short on patience!

This week I was talking to students about the heat, telling them how hot I thought it was. They looked at me and said “Oh no teacher. It is not hot yet.” Oh. My. God.