School has begun

School is in full swing for both Moe and I.  Moe has officially started his masters classes.  He has class 3 times a week for 3 hours a day.  He is enjoying getting to know his classmates and his professors.  I love seeing him excited about it and talking about what he wants to do.  He is truly a blessing to me.

I am almost done with week 2 of my second year of teaching.  I can hardly believe it.  It is going very well and I am very pleased with things so far. I hope it only continues to improve.  I feel so much more prepared and capable this year.  Last year every event and unit and lesson and everything was new. It is so much more enjoyable when you have some what of an idea of whats going on!

I have also begun coaching volleyball. I am coaching the Co-Ed Middle School Volleyball team.  We have 21 students on the team, so it is a bit of a challenge.  Also, we do all of our practices outside, though we play our games inside.  And we practice twice a week with one of those practices being a game day.  Sports in Thailand, or at least at the international schools of Chiang Mai, is so so SO very different for me!  I am truly enjoying it though.  Hopefully the students are too!

Well thats all I really have for you.  Other than being busy with school not much else new is happening. I am dead tired after practice today so I am going to bed early.  I thought I would share this video with you. Some of you might enjoy it more than others :)

Classroom 2013-2014

My classroom this year makes me very happy.  As always, there are still things to do and surfaces to clean, but after the first day I was too exhausted to care enough to stay late at school.  I came home and put my feet up for awhile before tackling the mound of things I brought home to do! Ugh the never ending joyful life of a teacher :)  Here are some pictures of my classroom if you care!

Supply center and bulletin board

Student cubbies neatly organized!

Library baskets and reading area

new writing bulletin board

some library books labeled finally!!

View from the door. Love my Pom Poms made from tissue paper. 

Homework and Objectives chart

Word Wall and Alphabet on the white board. 

We had a great first day of school. My kids are so well behaved (we'll see how long it lasts ;)) and kind.  As part of our team building/bonding we came up with this class promise together in which the whole class signed in agreement to do.  What a great group, they truly came up with this on their own!

Weekend trip to Bangkok

Moe and I went to Bangkok for our last getaway of the summer.  We were only there for a short time but very much enjoyed ourselves.  We flew down Friday afternoon, not arriving to our hotel until 6pm.  Our hotel was beautiful!! It had a living area, a kitchenette, and a bedroom.

We then went out to dinner to a Korean BBQ buffet thing with some of Moe's video game friends who live in and near Bangkok. We had a lot of fun trying new foods.

Saturday morning we slept in a little. We then went to the hotel restaurant breakfast buffet which was fabulous!! We relaxed a little more...it was vacation right!  Finally, we decided to be productive and went to explore the palace. We found out it was a little further from our hotel than we had thought. It took us about an hour via metro and boat taxi to reach our destination.  It was definitely worth it as the palace and the temple in the quarters are beautiful.  These first pictures are of the temple at the front entrance. It is gorgeous.

I had to wear a skirt, and the hat was because I forgot my sunglasses!

The Grand Palace

front entrance

guards keeping watch

Moe afraid of the statue. 

 We then went back to our room to relax after all the walking we were exhausted.  It started to rain a little so it gave me an excuse to nap :)  We then went to a mall (there are bunches) and found H&M and shopped til we dropped.  We then had OUTBACK for dinners.  mmmmm mmmmm it was so so so good. I am very sad we do not have more steak in Chiang Mai.

Sunday we woke up way too early to go to the Floating Market. It is a little further outside of Bangkok than I was expecting. We had scheduled a tour that left at 630 and got back at 230! We had to drive about an hour outside the city to get to this market.  It was very cool though.  The shops are set up along the canals and people use boats to get to the shops. Some shop owners pull boats close to them to get people to buy their things.  Originally this market was for the local people selling the goods they make/grow, but now it is solely for tourists.  It was still a fun experience to see how things began in Bangkok.

The name of the market...please excuse my finger :)

leaving the dock...

a shop in a boat. 

a man with a giant snake, dont worry more snakes joined him later :/

a shop on the dock. 

Moe and I having a great time!

After we got back to our hotel we had lunch and then hung out in the lobby/restaurant for awhile until it was time to leave.  We took the train home which was a 14 hour ride. It wasnt too bad though. I think we might do it again!

We loved Bangkok and hope to return often. We barely saw the city but the ease of getting around and the larger international things are definitely major reasons, for me, to go back... hello.. they have an IKEA!!!

Silly Chico

Chico likes to play with other animals.  This is him playing with a chin-choke (gecko) that made its way to our kitchen floor.  His "play" sadly often ends in death of his new "friend".  I spared you those images though.  ENJOY!!!

Thats all for now.  I am officially starting school, in meetings all day today :(

Thai Cooking Class

Since I am way behind on my posts, this is going to be mostly a picture message!  I told you awhile ago that I participated in a Thai cooking class.  My friend, Lindsay, and I joined a class of 8 other people from all around the world.  It was an all day event which turned out to be quite fun!

Our menu.  We got to choose 1 of each item to make. I chose 1. Pad See Uew 2. Spring Roll 3.  Coconut Milk Soup  4. Mango Sticky Rice 5. Penang Curry Paste

The place where the magic happens! 

Lindsay and I in our beautiful, required hats :)

The farm where some of the ingredients were grown.

Our super cute cooking instructor explaining the many oils

My cooking station, making Pad See Euw (chicken, veggies, noodles).

Lindsay cooking up a storm. 

My finished appetizer

Prepping the spring rolls.

Watching others make something...

Penang curry paste and chicken

Finished curry, chicken, and soup.

We had a wonderful time.  We made a lot of food, made some new friends, and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.  It was a great experience.  You should come try it ;)