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 ;)

What a week!

We had a very eventful week!  It all started on Monday when I went to the market via public transit.  I did my thing and enjoyed myself wonderfully.  I called Moe to come pick me up and he did.  On the way home we got stopped/trapped in a police trap thingy.  See, I forgot to remind Moe to bring my helmet and he forgot about it too. It's illegal to not wear one.  SO once we got pulled over the officer asked for his license and well we don't have that either!  Needless to say we got a ticket and had to walk to the police station, which was just down the block.  We get there and it is crazy busy so we have to wait a good hour before getting to deal with it.  The original officer told us it would be 600 baht (200 for the license, and 400 for the helmet).  When Moe got to the counter at the station, the man said 200 baht only!! We only had to pay for the license part.  We then walked back to our bike and went home.  While this trip was supposed to take 10 minutes and ended up taking 1.5 hours, we thankfully did not have to pay much!

Tuesday Moe helped me out at school. I had to clean up after summer school, which was probably worse than after normal school, and definitely more depressing! Then we reorganized some things and prepared for next year, which is only FOUR, 4, see (4 in Thai) weeks away!!!!!

Wednesday I went back to school for a few things and back to the market for a few things.  Then I was exhausted and went home and slept! It was beautiful.

Thursday I slept some more! I think I am starting to fully appreciate summer break.  Thursday night I went to the night market with a friend Lindsay who was in town from India, but really America.  She has lived in India for the past 6 months.  In high school and what not we were family friends.  It was so fun to be together again and share our cross cultural experiences.  Some things are VERY similar and some things are VERY different.  It is soo cool to learn about other cultures and compare things.  We definitely had a good time.

Friday I went to a friends house which required high way driving.  I have been driving a good bit in town and to close, familiar places.  While I knew how to get to her house, I was afraid of driving on the highway for the first time.  So, my lovely Moe drove out with me.  He led the way and I followed him.  We stopped to get gas.  I thought I didn't need to get any but Moe suggested I should.  So I pulled up to the pump and pointed to the one that I thought I needed.  I then hear Moe screaming NOOOOOO.  It was the wrong one.  Of course, I chose the one that would terribly damage my bike if mixed together.  Thankfully he caught it in time and no bad gas was pumped!!!!  What a man! Anyway, I made it safely to my friends house.  We were able to talk about life, and school, and families. It was fun to just be with someone else and share life with them.  The rest of the night Moe and I hung out at home and played games.  It was a much needed restful relaxing day.

Saturday requires a post all of its own so that will come next.  Basically cooking class and dinner amazingness!!

Sunday was another peaceful day.  I slept in!! And so did Chico.  I think he is learning about the beauty of weekends!  Moe and I went to dinner at a beautiful restaurant and enjoyed happy hour and delicious food! After that I went to the Sunday Walking Street as it is called with Lindsay.  Sadly we weren't there long as I had to go, but we both got the things we needed.  Then as we were walking to the motorbike it started POURING rain.  We stopped at an overhang for awhile to wait it out.  It slowed after about 5 minutes and we got public transit the rest of the way.  Once we got to the bike it had pretty much stopped.  Lindsay stayed to keep shopping and I headed home.  My first time driving in the semi-rain and it was night time :( It wasn't too bad though. I went through a deep puddle that got me wet.  Then a car drove past me and splashed me. But other than that it was safe and I made it home just fine.

What a week!! I hope you all are enjoying your summer like Moe and I are.  Sorry for the lack of pictures but some stories are better off without time for pictures, only spontaneity.

Chiang Dao night getaway

We had been wanting to get away for awhile.  It had been suggested that we go up to Chiang Dao for a night  to a place called The Nest. They have a "world famous chef who studied in Europe" and what not.  It is an hour north into the mountains. We decided Friday night to hit the road Saturday morning.  We had no reservation but took the leap anyway (I had a back up place though so do not worry!)  Here is our route:

We left around noon and headed up.  Our bums were quite sore but it was a beautiful drive. We enjoyed the scenery tremendously.  We arrived and had lunch right away as we were quite hungry.  Moe had a boar burger and I had a beef burger.  Both were delicious.  Then we asked about rooms.  They did not have any air conditioned rooms available so we got one with a fan instead.  I was a little worried about it, since it is so hot all the time, but it was fine.  Here is the little cottage. It is very simple but cute. 

We then headed out to Chiang Dao Cave, which we passed on our way in.  Here is the entrance.  

We werent really sure what to expect, but figured it would be like surprise cave that we explored in Vietnam... no no, this was still a cave not for people... sorta.  There were a few statues and buddhas and spirit houses near the entrances.  Then we got to a part where there were some Thai women with lanterns and two entrances that were rather dark.  They asked us if we wanted to go in and we said sure... not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.  We were led by a Thai tour guide with a lantern through these massive caves. It was very neat.  BUT then she crawled through this tiny hole and said this way, "we dont come back".  I laughed thinking she was kidding.. no no. She was dead serious.  So I had to crawl on the ground, it was not pleasant.  Plus the cave had bats, and spiders.  I was terrified! But looking back it was very cool. Moe and I enjoyed it a lot.  

Next we went for a drive around the area.  The amazing people at the hotel suggested we explore the area the King has set aside for agriculture.  They said it would smell beautifully and it did.  It also looked beautifully!  We sadly though need to learn our plants.  We only identified corn, rice, and banana trees. My Grandpa Cal would not be pleased!  Here is a picture of the beauty with the mountains behind.  

Then we went to the Thai restaurant at our hotel and had dinner.  Moe had buffalo in a spicy soup and I had chicken and veggies in a palm sugar sauce; both with rice of course.  Both were delicious, even though Moe struggled through his.  He got a bit sun burnt on drive up to Chiang Dao and his sun burn did not like the hot food too much! 

We left our computers and books at home. The hotel only had wifi in the restaurant.  So when we returned from dinner at 730 we did not know what to do.  After about 30 minutes of sitting in our room, we decided we wanted dessert. So we went out to the restaurant and enjoyed it for another hour or so.  There were other guests that were quite entertaining at that point so it was a good time.  We went to bed at 930, which is very early for both of us!  Surprisingly we slept until 8 the next morning! 

We had breakfast which was again delicious.  (I wish this place wasnt so far away so that we could eat there more often!)  We then set out for the monastery which was about 500 meters from the hotel.  Then it was 510 steps to the top.  It was beautiful. These are some of the stairs that we climbed with monks walking.  

 

This picture was taken from a lookout point.  It is the final destination.  

This is looking back down onto the position of the previous picture.  It was so clear and calm up there.  

We thoroughly enjoyed the monastery. After we returned we packed up and headed home.  This was taken on our way home. (Yes, mom, we did stop for the picture!)

We very much enjoyed the trip. We were only gone for about 24 hours, but it was very much needed.  More pictures can be seen on my facebook page at this link  Brittany's facebook album