The Hungarian Padthai

 My fairy tale project is slowly coming towards its end, so let me sum up to you fellow teachers - and even to you who are not a teacher because it was just sooo interesting for me to listen to Thai fairy tales and legends for the first two weeks in my school! You know, I don't really get to travel now (virus, plus dorm-stay, plus no licence so I can't even leave the territory of the dorm.... etc.), but I got to travel with these fairy tales!  Look at the project works: aren't they beautiful? When I started to teach them, they were just finishing up the short story so I thought why not jump to the fairy tales, as these things have so much in common! First, I asked them to bring a fairy tale and retell it, then in the rest of the week we were making scrapbooks from their favourite tales. It went really well! (See the results above.) During the process, we also discussed the concept and definition of the fairy tales (I used loop input for that, yay!), and then today they had ...

 I am still adjusting to the heat (and to the cold inside of the rooms). It's going, but it's going really slow and hard. It's hard when I try to be on three different continents too at the same time but I start to like Thailand more and more.  I get tired in the evenings. That's why it's cool that we have a swimming pool at school. (Not intended rhymes lol. :-) ). So today - for the first time, but seriously, why have I waited with this so long? - I swam here:  About teaching see my previous posts (I will share more of my projects later as they are coming), but here are some data: I have to be at the school from 7:45 am till 4:15 pm. It's long, but it's not that long if you consider that I teach 4 classes a day (on Wednesdays 5 and on Fridays sport days, which is basically observation in P5 and Period 6 while students play.) Normally, I would have 1-2 hours of free time where I have time to grade, ask my questions, run to the White house (that's its nam...

Project work with my class you know, I've never been a homeroom teacher before so it's quite a new experience for me but I like it so far. You have already won over my heart by just asking when I was coming - during the days of my quarantine or when I was still back in my home country. And then we met and I fell in love with you at first sight. You helped me through some serious issues, like letting me know about cultural differences. You never ceased to be patient with me and repeated your names as many times as I needed to hear them before I could remember you all. (And when I did, you clapped your hands with appreciation which warmed my heart very much. THANK YOU.) I said, you won over my heart, but you're winning it every day, really! You are the best class a homeroom teacher could ever wish for. Of course, you're late. Of course, some of you are even tardy. But as we discussed on the other day, we're all the same, but still, we 're all different. You're...

Fridays are special in the school's life (so also in mine). Not only because I feel especially brainwashed a.k.a. completely tired but also because Fridays are Sport days!!!! :-) Yeyeyeye! For teachers: it's for 2 hours just to relax and watch our teams play (at least that's what I naively thought!), for students: making them more tired for the weekend (and more clothes to wash for parents!).  No, anyway, in the school there are no PE classes, so that's how it's sorted out. Every week the students are organized in groups according to their houses (yes!), and they play volleyball or basketball or soccer. It's fun! :-) (when the sports hall has a ventillation system) and it's not so fun when you need to run around in 35+ degrees (not Fahrenheit this time).  Theoretically, I should have helped my house (more details later) but I just felt so overwhelmed after the whole week so that I was only chatting with some of my students - whom I didn't even recognize ...

 As I expected, a lot of impulses and stimuli have come to my life after I had finally broken free from the hotel. I must admit, I miss the predictable schedule of that. I feel that I'm surrounded now with so many more things here in my real life, that I can't take all of them at once.  In the second morning what I spent in the dorm, I woke up to this beautiful sunrise.  But let's start from the beginning. The school van - as promised - came and picked me up on time, and from the first moment, I felt so much humbleness and gratefulness both from the school's part and from the hotel's part as well. Like I got flooded with presents (which if you already carry two full bags) is not the best idea, but I was really really grateful for that, as well! :-) I got folk purse, and also an apron that I can (and should) wear when I visit a Buddhist temple (to which I'm looking forward to!).  When we arrived to the dorm, everything was very strange for me at once, I felt so o...

  Somehow this is how I feel.  My Bangkok-days have ended for now. My quarantine is about to finish tomorrow. My second corona test is also negative. Somehow, I feel happy, overwhelmed and sad at the same time. I want to stand in front of the window and look out at the window - like who knows when I am going to be able to visit a SkyBar next time, but at the same time, I also need to pack and get ready for tomorrow.  I'm not ready yet. I became too comfortable in my little bubble here. I became a tiny bit organized, like scheduling my visits to the relax area, and meeting up with L, B and Z, you know, the first people that you meet on a trip that always remain special to you because you share something very personal and very fragile with them (your insecurity of living in a whole different culture than yours).  But tomorrow, I'm stepping - what stepping, I'm jumping! - out into the unknown and the working days are coming (like the sword of Damocles) above my head. I ...

  From today on, Hungary's borders are shut down and just today it dawned on me that if I wanted to, if I really wanted to (or had to?), maybe I couldn't even go back home (or it would be difficult anyway). I was just lying in the bed until 3 am, thinking: what have I done? I am in a foreign country, a foreigner, alone, and I don't even speak the language. Will I manage? What if something happens to me? How will I make myself understood? (Even when sometimes I cannot understand myself.) We can put it nicely, but the hotel still feels like a prison sometimes. We are controlled to so much extent that we are even have to give a prior notification when we want to leave our rooms. Which is still reasonable, but you get it.  10 000 kilometers already sound too much, but given the conditions, now it even seems more. I know, I have to give time to things. I know I can also change and I will as well. According to Haemin Sunim (his book is highly recommended, Love for Imperfect Thing...