PLEASE don't jump on me!!

Sawadee ka,

     I had one of the most UH-mazing experiences last Sunday.  I had the pleasure of going to Lopburi, Thailand to the annual monkey festival.  As I was eating breakfast at my hotel, I overheard a young couple speaking English.  I made my way to their table and starting conversing with them.  We chatted and decided that we would go to the festival together.  Yeah, I was traveling alone, it was not my original plan, but sometimes you gotta do it.  We took a songthaew to the center of town and proceeded to the Khmer ruins.  We were greeted by monkeys before we entered the gate where the festival was being held.  As we are walking around and they are feeding the monkeys peanuts, we noticed a lady with a slingshot.  She was there to keep the monkeys away from the buffet that they were arranging for them because the ceremony did not start until 10am.  The monkeys came down and they had a feast!! I was able to get some GREAT pics and also some video of them.  I am going to TRY and upload the video to this post!!

The monkeys are long-tailed macaques and highly revered in Thai culture.  Thai people view monkeys are heroic deity since they saved Sita, the wife of Lord Ram from the clutches of a demon (http://www.fest300.com/festivals/lopburi-monkey-banquet). The monkeys literally run the city wild and free, I was just hoping they would not poop in my hair as they were running along the power lines. I met up with some other guys from my group and we had great time.  I have NEVER been this close to a monkey in my life and I am glad that I did not get bit.  The festival was great and I highly recommend it to anyone that comes to Thailand.  The monkey's are ALWAYS in the town BUT the festival is once a year, the last Sunday in November.

Always learning,

Charmel

monkey police (water bottle weapon of choice BUT he did not hit the monkey's)

monkey police (she did not shoot the monkey's with anything)

Lotions, Potions and Creams...

Good evening,

As you all know, I have been in Thailand now for about 1 month.  Everything is going well, I have decreased my rice consumption to ONCE a day, if that.  I have also found an aerobics class that meets close to my apartment.  The class is HARD for me PLUS it is EXTREMELY hot in Thailand, so I sweat profusely during the class.  Now on to the real reason for this post.....

A great thing about traveling and exploring new parts of the world, is learning things about their culture.  I am pretty sure some of you all have heard of about this phenomenon before but this is from first-hand experience.  When I first arrived, I went to the supermarket to buy some beauty products.  I was looking for some soap and lotion and noticed that on some of the products it said "whitening".  The deodorant even contained whitening agents!!  I QUICKLY put those products down and avidly looked for the products that did not contain whitening products.  I asked around about this, and I was told that in Thai culture, the lighter your skin is, the more acceptable you are in society.  In Thai culture, they believe that when you have darker skin you are not well off.  The dark skin people are usually stereotyped as migrant workers, farmers or food vendors, which in Thai society are deemed poor.

So, I went to the beach a few weekends ago and I noticed that ALL, well most of the Thai females were swimming FULLY clothed.  Also,when walking down the street on a sunny day, they will usually carry umbrellas so that they will not get darker.  This is a normal way of Thai culture and all we can do as non-Thai people is accept the facts.

Always learning,

Charmel

School pics!!

Friday November 8, 2013

Greetings,

I took my camera to school today and got some photos of my colleagues and a few students.  I also managed to snap a pic of the other foreign teachers that work with me as well.  Typhoon Haiyan dumped a lot of rain in Rayong today and the wind was blowing really hard at one point but it only lasted a couple of hours.  I played bingo with one of classes and they LOVED it and they requested prizes for the next time.  The kids are generally well behaved, besides some of them talking too much.  So, ALL of the students greet the teacher with "Good muhning teacha, how are you?"  Then I answer and they have a seat.  I wanted to get a video of that today but I was not able to.  Next week I will get a video of them and I will post it so stay tuned!!!


Always learning,

Charmel

The guys: l-r: (Jay, Borden and Rob)

Fish sauce (they use this stuff like vinegar)

Wat Pa Pradu

Hello all,

The adventures in Thailand continue!!! My latest adventure was actually by mistake, well not really, I just did not know that I was going to this particular Temple (Wat).  One of my co-workers invited me to Temple with her and her family on last Saturday.  Getting up at 9am on a Saturday was not in the plans but I am visiting someone else's country, so I had to agree.  So, they picked me up around 10am and we headed to the Temple.  Once we arrived I was soooo excited!! The previous day one of my co-worker's was telling me about a temple with a reclining Buddha.  There are plenty of Temples with reclining Buddha's in Thailand, but the Buddha's are reclining on their right side.  The Buddha at this Temple, is reclining on it's left side.  Imagine my excitement when we pulled up!!!

The Temple, Wat Pa Pradu is located in Rayong which is about 15 minutes from my apartment.  Wat Pa Pradu was built during the Ayutthaya Period and has been renovated and reopened to the public.  The reclining Buddha measures 11.95 meters in length and 3.60 meters in height.  

I did participate in the traditional Buddhist ceremony, which is very informal.  So, we purchased flowers and 3 sticks when we first arrived at the Temple.  We lit the sticks, they kind of reminded me of sparklers, and placed them in a container with other sticks like it.  After that, we kneeled down and said a prayer.  Then we went into the room where the Buddha was and place gold flakes on different parts of the Buddha.  I placed my gold flakes on the mouth, the head (for brain power) and the feet (for safe travel).  It was the birthday of my husband's co-worker and we went to a seperate section of the Temple to participate in another activity. We went into a small room where he purchased a pre-packaged basket with goodies and a robe for the monk.  Once we entered the room, we had to wait our turn, and the monk chanted and we repeated the chant (kind of like devotion in the Baptist Church) and then prayed over us.  This concluded my trip to the Temple and I learned a lot from this experience.

Here are some pics from the Temple!!!

Always learning,

Charmel

First days of teaching

November 2, 2013

Greetings,

I have OFFICIALLY completed my first week of teaching in Thailand and it went smoothly.  I am teaching Biology, General Science and Introductory Chemistry.  The students range from 7th grade to 10th grade levels.  The class sizes vary from 30 students per class to about 50 students per class.  This past week, I just did an introductory power point and some games so that the students can get to know me.  I will be teaching different levels of students every month and I am ready for the challenge.  I wrote my first lesson plan last week and also made a power point for one of my lessons, which was super simple.  The Thai teachers want me to do a lot of activities with the students because that keeps them focused on learning.  So, for my first week of teaching the subject matters, I am going to play bingo with the kids at the end of the lesson.

The Thai teachers in the science department are REALLY, REALLY nice and caring.  I do not live on campus where the other American teachers live and the Thai teachers MAKE sure that I have a ride to and from work EVERY morning and afternoon.  I also eat lunch with them everyday because I want to learn Thai and they also want to learn English.  So, at lunch we sit and talk, mostly them in Thai but they will include me in the discussion as well.

I feel like I am getting adjusted well here in Thailand and I will post more pics next week, when I take my camera to work.

Always learning,

Charmel