2-13-14 A Day To Celebrate The Children

National Children's Day was originally supposed to be celebrated on January 11th (as if children need to be celebrated even more!). However, because of the choppy schedules we had those weeks due to the Bangkok protests, we postponed Children's Day until February 13th. It seemed pretty logical, seeing that this was one of the last weeks of school that had a day off. Friday, February 14th was a Buddhist holiday: Makha Bucha (celebrated in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia), so all of us would have the day off.

Only I can get a cut from a backpack. :(

(2-9-14)

The sky was actually pink and orange, but my phone camera

adjusted so that it looked purple. Pretty!

Looking out over the food court

2-11-14: Random Talent Show

This is a performance by 1st graders. The girl on the right

really knew how to shake! Sometimes I wish I had some moves. :(

Peach standing next to me

Ness's favorite Thai dessert

Oh, kids :)

His name is "Plato," but he will be forever memorized as "Platato." :D

I put my class by the speakers because they wanted

to be close to the stage. Silly as they are, they thought

it was hilarious when...

...it was super loud and they had to cover their ears.

Even with my insistence, they refused to move.

2-13-14: Children's Day

My kids singing the "Our Father" prayer

before going back to the classroom

to prepare for an entire day of fun!

This was one of the game stations. The

students needed to drag a metal stick through

the maze without touching the edges. If they

did, they "lost" and the whole board would

light up. Their turn was then over.

There was also a ball-rolling station that

gave the children prizes based on the holes

they made.

This station consisted of foam balls flying around

in this cylindrical tank. Certain colors meant

bigger prizes.

Balloon darts!

Hoops

ANOTHER GIANT INFLATABLE?!

This schools spares no expenses in indulgence lol, but I'm

glad the students will remember these celebrations for years to come.

Three of my most well-behaved girls: Baitoey (Pandan), Khow-hom (Jasmine rice), and Meaily

Tan-Tan, Noon, Plato, Jaidee (good-hearted), and Nataly

I'm still not sure if that's how you spell her name: "Nataly"

Tan-Tan: the extremely well-behaved and intelligent class leader

Noon: a quiet sweetheart

Plato (or is he Platato?): extremely silly but can be very sweet

Jaidee: not sure if she's as "jaidee" as her name implies

I was actually here trying to take a picture of one of my students,

who is incidentally covered by the gym teacher and the momentary

Bingo winner, but the gym teacher photo-bombed.

Overall, it was a fun day. I loved seeing my students, but I stayed indoors after

eating too much because I wanted to clean up my classroom and plan for next week.

Tomorrow, Valentine's Day and Magha Bucha, my friend Ashley and I were setting

off to revisit the north! It was the last long weekend we'd have in Thailand, so we

decided to take advantage! :)

   

2-8-14 Ayutthaya Times Two

     A while back, practically one of my first weekends in Muang Thong Thani, I visited Ayutthaya with Jess. One of my favorite places, I made a semi-promise that I would return to it one day. Here was my second trip to Ayutthaya--actually, it was more of a trip to a floating market (which I STILL haven't visited), and we just happened to stumble upon some of the temples I saw the first time.

Ashley and I walked around, following Google Maps.

We enjoyed a very delicious lunch on our way to the floating market.

However, instead of ever reaching that apparently 

poorly-mapped-out market, we wound through

a street market. We ended up near one of the temples

I had previously visited.

The first time I came though, I don't believe there was this pair of

the Buddha's hands nor the white Buddha's head.

(I do remember the building in the back though.)

As I was leaving, a kid grabbed my arm and tried to sell me a keychain.

Ever the sucker for adorable kids and wanting to help people,

I ended up standing there deliberating for a while. The adults

he was with finally told them, "The farang doesn't want it!" in Thai.

I ended up buying one--I'll probably add it to my car or home keys

when I return to Chicago. His poor brother or friend then started

begging me to buy another one. I felt horrible as I walked away. :(

I love it!

Bridge across water :)

Then, Ashley and I, being the animal lovers we are, stopped to

take pictures of herons.

A few too many pictures, in fact. :P

Here's Ashley taking pictures of herons... that's how crazy we were! haha

A closer view

Herons taking off :)

They were all perched in this tree. A little scary, but very cool!

There was supposed to be a floating market here too... 

Oh well, I love elephants in any way, shape, and form! :D

Goodbye, Ayutthaya! Maybe one day we shall meet again!

1-25-14 Exotic Pets We Tried Not To Take Home

Ashley and I LOVE animals! One weekend, Ashley and Lindsay stopped by to visit me

and we all walked over to Impact for the Exotic Pet Show 2014!

But first, I must acknowledge the cats that used to

inhabit my hallway. I remember when that mother cat

used to yowl at midnight, waking me up because she

was in heat. >: Well, at least she has her babies now.

Cats!

A dressed-up prairie dog!

Looks fake, but definitely not :)

Really adorable and long green snakes

Touch me!

Oh, can I take one home, please, please, please?!

Haha, weirdo cuties stuck on the sides of their cases :)

Geico! haha jk :D

My favorite arachnids in the whole entire world!

Just kidding. If I owned one, I would probably stay

awake for weeks, making sure it would never escape

because as we all know, all spider-like objects

want to do is to attack me when I'm not paying

attention and crawl into my mouth. >:

Mommy, do you think you have enough snakes in the house?

Awwwwwwww cutie pie!

Love has no reason :)

I already fell in love with that pup. :)

The little animal kept escaping--it was so adorable!

BIRDS!

Owls. Even though they can be seen as

evil and wise, I find them to be kind of

scary-cute... :D

SPOILER ALERT!

Hedwig never died :)

Pampered princess pup that gave me a spoiled brat attitude lol

:)

I'll stop crooning so you can enjoy the animals for yourselves, haha

They had fake playpens. I still felt sorry for them though. :(

For Ness

For Ness again

GIANT BUNNIES

For Tiffany. They were bigger than me... almost.

An unlikely friendship

The bunny was so still and soft! :)

A guy met me by the chinchilla cages and started talking to me.

Later, he found me by the crayfish and asked me if I was married.

I was afraid to stick my fingers into the cage because then, 

they curious chinchillas came up and I think they thought

I was giving them food.

I held some type of gecko.

Raccoons!

It's funny how I'm so afraid of tiny spiders. I'd rather have these crawling

in my rooms, honestly. Sad how strong my arachnophobia is!

:D

For Nick :D

Fishies!

Oh yeah, I found a Welsh Corgi named Monet (or something that sounded like that)

and I was petting her! I'll eventually find the pictures my friends have of me and her

and I'll post that :) She made my day and she was also dressed up as a nurse.

It matched her perfectly because she made me feel really good! haha :D

Like really good... maybe too good LOL