Beesly

I adopted a kitten one weekend when I was visiting my friend Stoney. She quickly became the love of my life. I thought a post dedicated just to her would be appropriate.



Beesly and Halpert reunite! Stoney adopted Halpert the same day I adopted Beesly. After living a month apart we brought them back together and they remembered each other and played non-stop.










She is so stinking cute.









One of her favorite places to sit is on the fence in my front yard watching the street. She has gotten really brave lately and stays outside alone a lot.

Sorry Cruu Kate we can't learn English today.

My sixth grade students came to my one day and apologized because they weren't available to learn English. When I asked why they said it was because they had to practice for the 31 legged race... I thought they were joking. Ends up they weren't.














Only in Thailand.

Roy Gratong

It is November. November means Roy Gratong Festival!! From what I gathered it is a festival for the people of Thailand to thank the water for giving them life. To thank the water they make "Gratong" and put all their bad thoughts on it and then send it on down the river.
What you need:

A slice from a trunk of a banana tree. Most were about 6-10 inches in diameter. I was convinced this was going to sink because it wasn't light but it didn't.





Banana Leaves. To fold up and decorate your base.






And flowers!!! I asked the students who had these where they bought them and they said they didn't , they just collected them. I am sure their neighbors were happy when they saw that.







Of course my first two classes were canceled so that the 5 and 6th grades could make lots of Gratongs to sell to people who didn't want to make their own.








Later I was visiting with my neighbor and she taught me to make my very own Gratong!

Isn't she lovely. You also put an incense stick and a candle on it.








Now my village was having a Roy Gratong festival in the lake at my school but my Aunt Nang was insistant that I see a REAL Roy Gratong festival. They were having one 2 villages over at the river. So Uncle Joe took me and my neighbor over to send one down the river. It was really really really pretty to see all the candles going down the river but impossible to take a picture of because it was so dark. You will just have to believe me or come visit me in November '09.


We headed back the our village just in time to catch the parade! Each of the 8 villages surrounding mine made a HUGE gratong on an inter-tube and they showed them in the parade.























After the monks blessed us we put our gratongs in the lake and released all of our bad thoughts. Everyone was joking that mine didn't sink so I must really like Thailand.

Toe-ing the Pa

Every Monday my female 6th grade students take an hour and learn about the traditional Thai weaving. I started going with them because it was a good time to learn more about them and they let me do some weaving.



This is Nan with her Grandmother. Her Grandma teaches us about weaving. She is a wonderful woman.





In Thai weaving is Toe Pa. But I always say, "lets go toe the pa" no one understands but I think it is funny. Some day I will teach the students about puns.








Don't let these pictures fool you. Weaving is hard work. They are also on huge wooden structures. Almost all the women in my small village weave and their designs are beautiful. I have bought some fabric from one of my students mothers but I want to buy more.




They even let me get in on the weaving. After the first couple of Mondays Nan's Grandmother asked me what my favorite color was. The next week they had a purple cloth started!

ENGLISH STORE!!!

As an incentive program at my small school I started the English store. When the students speak English they earn money. Then once a month I open the English store and they get to spend their money. Mostly I give a dollar to anyone I hear speaking English but they students can earn $5 for singing me a song in English and $1 daily for asking me a question. My co-teacher wanted to see an improvement in their spelling test scores so she announced they could earn $20 for getting a 100% and now everyone studies!!


To get the English store to school I strap it on to my bike.







I only open it in the afternoon in an attempt to keep the newly-bought toys from causing a distraction in class. They hate having to wait.






No matter how many cool things i put in the store for girls, most of them spend all their money on stickers.







I really couldn't have done this program as cheaply as I have without the help of my Uncle Dan and everyone who has sent me things to put in the store.




The students are ready to buy!