Good Morning Teacher... :)

Enjoying the weekend market with some of my WONDERFUL students!

Hello friends!

Saw-Wat-Dee-Ka (Hello!)

We have been in Thailand for almost two weeks and we are in our second week of teaching!! We are having a great time getting to know our students both inside and outside of class.

After four days of class, we are loving teaching!! I teach a Level 1 class of 10 students from 10 a.m.-noon and an Advanced Conversation (Level 5) class of 9 students from 7-9 p.m. Jonathan teaches an Advanced Conversation class of 6 students at 10 a.m.- noon and a Level 2 class of 7 students from 7-9 p.m. Our students range in age from late teens to early sixties, but there are also middle school students who take classes at Santisuk with other teachers. Honestly, we can NEVER guess the ages of anyone in Thailand. I'm pretty sure they have found the fountain of youth. People who look like the are late teens are early thirties! There are 2 other native English speakers teaching this session, one from Cameroon Africa and one from Bakersfield, California.

Yesterday, a few of my (Liz's) Level 1 students took us to “the weekend market” which is an outdoor shopping extravaganza comprised of 10,000 vendors who sell everything you can imagine... and many things you can't imagine :). My students are wonderful and it was fascinating to experience the Thai market culture. It is SO much fun to be with Thai people. The world is a classroom when you're trying to learn a language. Jonathan and I are trying to learn as much Thai as we can, so every conversation becomes quite the adventure – trying to learn/understand Thai and teach English.

Among useful phrases like “ I don't understand”, “I like mango”, “What time is it”, “Bathroom”, and “Bad traffic jam”, both Jonathan and I have learned to count to 10 in Thai and we can figure out 1-100 if we hear it. We have very gracious, patient Thai friends who help us stumble through the tonal language as we try to make sounds that our brains and mouths have never tried before. With five different tones in Thai, we are never completely sure exactly what we are saying because the same word with a different tone can mean a completely different thing. Quite exciting!

By God's grace, our insides are staying on the inside for the most part :). No more throwing up for me and Jonathan has a stomach of steel.... seriously.... you should see the things he eats! :) I always taste what he eats, but he is brave enough to eat a whole meal of crazy. All of the Thai food is very good. We love eating here... and we feel like our stomachs have adjusted to a new 'normal'.

This weekend we have exciting plans to visit the Grand Palace, the Ancient City and a crocodile farm with some of our students. It should be a blast. Stay tuned for pictures.

Thanks for reading!

Liz for both of us

At the Bangkok Dairy Queen...almost like home... sort of. Notice the flavor.

One of the markets near our apartment. We are redefining refrigeration.
 Notice the piles of meat on the right.

Jonathan with the elephants at the weekend market. Aren't they cool? 

Ice cream in Bangkok at Swenson's! Jonathan's ice cream had at least 10 toppings!
...it looked like Candy Land exploded in his dish. Awesome!

Enjoying Ice cream with our new friends 

You have to try everything at least once, right? Pre-sushi tasting at a Japanese restaurant.
 I'm still not sure I understand it. Fun to try though!

Yes. That is a stray dog in the mall. Best day ever for that pooch.

Jonathan eating something exciting.
Sometimes it is better to ask questions after eating it.
He enjoyed it.

Eating Pad Thai at a street vendor. Yummy!

There is a pool paradise on top of the shopping mall! It's AMAZING! We can use it for free too!
Notice our new swimwear.... swim caps... required for swimming in this pool.
Yet another adventure. :)