HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am jealous of everyone eating turkey and mash potatoes today with family. Hope everyone has a great day.

Cooking Class

I take cooking class once a week at school. So far I've had two classes. There are three of us in the class. There is me, an exchange student from Germany named Swea, and a Chinese teacher from China named Nan.

Each week we switch off from Thai dessert to main dish. These are pictures from my first class. The dish is called bualoyoloi. The first step was making the dough. We used flour made out of sticky rice. All we added to the flour to make the dough was water and dye. Me Swea and Nan each made a different type of dye. Swea had the blue flower, Nan had the red flower and I was in charge of a grass type plant to make green. We used a stone mortar and pistol to pound the ingredients until they were ready to make dye. We made each little ball then boiled the balls in water until they began to float. Once they started floating they were almost done.

We made a couple sweet sauces to go on top of the balls of dough. We took some coconut milk and boiled it down. Had to be careful not to burn it. Then we made a ginger sauce made of ginger and sugar. The last step was to parboil an egg in the ginger sauce. To put the dish all together you put an egg in a rice boil, take a spoonful of each of the different colored balls, poor a little coconut milk on top and sprinkle a little sesame seed on top. I really like ginger so I put a little extra ginger sauce in mine. It is really interesting to take cooking class and only be able to understand a few words. All I do is try to copy my teacher the best I can.

Pictures from the Loi Krathong Festival

My Apartment in Tak

Here is my apartment in Tak!

Pictures of Tak and Around My Apartment

Here is one of the many roosters that wake me up every morning. Here is my apartment complex. This is the Suspension Bridge that is covered with lights during the Loi Krathong Festival.

A Quick Word on Teaching

Teaching is going pretty well. I have my good days and my bad days. I'm usually good for one bad day a week. I have to really grind through that day, but most days I have fun. Hopefully the kids have fun too. It's tough because I have 22 classes a week (5 on the first four days a week and 2 on Friday). I only meet with each class once a week for 50 minutes, but it is more like 35 minutes because there are no passing periods. So students are always at least 10 minutes late. Sometimes more like 20. It's all right through because all of the teachers say it is normal. My lessons are getting shorter and shorter.

The last class of the day is always the hardest, but when that class goes well I go home happy. Today I tried a new game in my last class of the day and it completely bombed. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

The Loi Krathong Festival

During the last four or five days have been the biggest festival of the year in Tak. It is called the Loi Krathong Festival. It is like the mid-state fair Thai style. All kinds of amazing food with Thai dancing and other events. There festival is all about thanking, praising and asking for forgiveness from the river for any harm that may have been done to it during the past year. Twelve local communities compete (not sure how they decide which ones get to compete) for a prize of 1.5 million baht for the best show. Three communities release a thousand candles made out of coconut shells into the river with music and dancing. This is all happening on this giant floating stage in the river. Really beautiful. Also, individuals buy these candles, which are called Loi Krathong or maybe just Krathongs and release them into the water. This is a way for individuals to thank the river as well as letting go of a past sin or something that have been bothering them. So the river is filled with these candles and the sky has hundreds of paper lanterns. You can buy these white paper lanterns that will float like a hot air balloon. I love the lanterns. The lanterns symbolize the same thing as the candles. Internet is not very reliable so I will put pictures up when I can.

Laos Visa Run

I went to Vientiane, Laos for a work Visa run with a bunch of people I went through TESOL training with. I would love to go back to Laos, but not to Vientiane. Here are some pictures.

Laos is a really interesting place because it has been influenced by its colonial days under French rule. I had some of the best pizza I've ever had anywhere. Real cheese in Southeast Asia. I was so happy. I did have to pay 48,000 kip for it, but it was worth it.

The sunset was taken on a boat that was turned into a restaurant on the Mekong River. The sunsets here are amazing. I think it is because I am so close to the equator.

Rock Climbing!

Rock climbing has definitely been one of the highlights for me. This is the first time I have ever roped up except for one time in 6th grade at Sly Park on an indoor wall. I was a bit scared, but I ended up doing really well. We climbed up three different ropes and I made it up all of them without falling. I pretty proud of myself. This was a blast and I can't wait to try rock climbing again.

Krabi and Railay Trip

I went to Krabi and Railay before I went to Tak. These pictures are of on the way to Railay from Krabi and of the place I stayed at at Railay.

Pictures from Bangkok

These are some pictures that a fellow teacher Patrick to took in Bangkok.

Sunset at Kata Beach

Tak

I'm in my apartment and I start teaching on Monday. Tak is definitely going to take some time to get use to, but the people I work with a really nice and helpful. The head of the English department might be one of he nicest people I have ever met. Her name is Pe Nid. Pe mean aunt in Thai and Nid is here nickname. She has helped me setup my apartment and today gave me here husbands old bike. She has been so helpful. Oh, she also helped me buy fan. A must in Thailand. If Pe Nid wasn't here I would be so lost.

For those faithful followers of my blog. I will try to keep my blog up to date the best I can. I don't always have internet access so it can be difficult, but I really appreciate everyone who is reading my blog.