The Hungarian Padthai

 I haven't been writing for a long time. It was a lot to write about but I haven't got the time or motivation to sit down and word all it out. But stuff happened, and so did changes; and I hope I did most things right and adapted well to them. I lost a couple of friends (will share in a moment how), and also I gained a couple of new ones, or with some of my closed-knit contacts we are not that closed-knit anymore (and I would lie if I told that it didn't hurt). But today I wasn't going to write about the emotional changes in me, just about the circumstances and how I coped with them. Just be patient, this emotional roller-coaster will make sense to you, too, dear Reader. :-)  Somewhere in KrungThep Bridge. :-) Okay, here are the things that happened to me since April:  1. I resigned from my old school and accepted another position in Bangkok.  2. I moved houses.  3. I got inspired by my new, wonderful colleagues.  4. I started a lot of interesting workshops...

 There is a Finnish poem which says the Christmas is only in the hearts of people and it is when we want it. This is how I feel tonight.  It's Christmas Eve. I miss my family, mostly my dear sister and my dear cousins but in general, Christmas in 2020 would be different anyway. It's not about the festivities - and maybe, hopefully, this year it will change it for us forever, that it should be in our hearts. Even if it disappeared from it at some point.  Christmas is when we want it - says the poem and sadly I don't remember who wrote it. Christmas is when our beloved ones run towards us. Christmas is in the heart when you see someone that you love smile at you - or see someone think of you but s/he doesn't realize it that you're watching him / her yet. It's the feeling, and the warmth of the love.  I am grateful to have so many friends to think of and talk to during this night. I don't feel myself lonely even if "I should be": my family are far awa...

  Last week before the 3-week holiday and I prepared a project with Grade 9. Of course, it was all about Harry Potter as they wished it. I divided the class into the real Harry Potter houses and the first task was to draw their house's coat of arms. Then I asked the other teachers, my colleagues to vote for the best one - which one they liked the best. You can see, here is the end product. (9A and 9B - therefore the 2 sets of drawings).  They of course had other tasks, as well: they had to plan their magical beast and draw it, then present it, bring a passport picture and then draw themselves as a Hogwarts-students and I managed to find some wordsearch for them, as well.  I'm not a genius or anything to have found out these many activities for them, I got them  from here  . Please use them in your class, too - they are really cool! :-) In 9A, Ravenclaw got the first place, whereas in the other class Gryffindor came to the first place! Congratulations, guys! :-)...

  This entry is later than a month: but I only had time to write about it now. On the 6th of November, right after coming back from the holiday, we celebrated the day of Ajarn Samai who founded our school. His dream and vision was to establish an English-speaking school where non-Thai kids can also learn (and those who wish to learn in English but their mother tongue is Thai, as well). The whole school gathered in the main building's aula, and after singing a couple of songs, or listening to my student who is the President of the Student Council, both teachers and students were required to staple up their thoughts on the school. The result became this, as you can see: a board, full of hearts, full of good thoughts and memories. It was really a good way to show gratefulness. Some students wrote that they are grateful because they met their good friends here or that they learnt really good English here, and so on. :-) It was really touching to see all the students move up to the boar...

 Have you ever had a day when nothing worked out?  I did, even here. You might think, my life is only bubbles and butterflies, just because I'm not in the epicentre of global pandemic, but I can still find actually a lot of challenges here. For instance, a couple of examples:  - The other day, I left my school pass at home. This means, that I have to obtain a slip of paper saying that I had left it at home, but if that's not enough, I still had to ask around for teachers for keys (obviously, I could not open my door either), and for food (remember saying somewhere at the beginning that my school pass is topped up with money that I use to pay at the cantine? Yes, correct.  - Or when I leave something at home. Mom nods silently: yes, my little daughter, she's always been like this for her whole life, always leaves something at home or at the school or somewhere... and yes, that's correct too! Absolutely valid point but whenever it happens, I would cry first and only th...

 1) Wildlife:  The other day, I went to the market place and this water monitor was just casually swimming in the channel near the river (or should I say brook?) located close to the market place. I'm already good friends with water monitors so I did not care - also this one was a smaller example of them, look:  This message however, on School's chat was more terrifying:  2) Public transportation Public transportation as such is non-existent nor in Saraburi, but I tend to believe that it goes for the entire country as well. Also, take that into account or consideration that I count as illiterate here, since I do not know the signs and letters, so even if I wanted to, couldn't figure out the train timetable. Add to that the ton of misinformation and misdirection that is usual in Thailand (but honestly in any other countries in Asia). So mostly, I rely on my friends when it comes to travel. However, the Ministry of Traffic is trying to implement new rules and regulatio...

 This is my first year of teaching literature, I must confess. It's interesting and exciting, especially, because the major analysis of the literary works I'm teaching, we discover with my students. Of course, I do a lot of research and I also analyze the dramas and novels we are reading, but then my students have bright ideas too and I feel that they are also valid, so I incorporate them, as well. It's exciting!  What's more, I feel inspired and creative. So here are two tips (mostly for myself for the future). I just jot it down that I don't forget these ideas that were sparked in me these weeks and possibly, hopefully, I can use them again for different writers / novels/ works.  1.) Teaching about Edgar Allan Poe, I had the idea of creating an escape room for my students. They had to find the keys with which they opened the lockers where - instead of escaping - a bag of candy was waiting for them. First of all, students received this letter:  Dear Class, welcom...

 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...