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...

  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...

 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...

 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...

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...