Culture 101

Well, a lot has happened since my last post, so there is much to write about today. I'll start with the most recent events and go backwards.

Today was our last Thai culture training module. I am no expert, but we certainly learned quite a bit of information. Next week we will start "back to school" orientation with all of the current teachers of ICS. It will be nice to meet some new people and make some new friends. I am looking forward to finally meeting Kim, the teacher I was corresponding with a bit before coming here.

Yesterday we went to the doctor for a wellness check up. I think the MOE requires this before granting work permits. Anyway, on a rather humorous note, practically all of the ladies were told that they were too fat and needed to lose a kilo or two. The doctor didn't take into account muscle mass or anything, she just simply looked at height and weight. She pinched my side the other day and gently scolded me saying, "Watch out. Don't eat so much. Less sweets!" HA! Well, I certainly didn't listen to her and enjoyed pizza and game night with some new friends. :)

On Wednesday we took a field trip to a few different places. We first went to the Thakha floating market. We went on boats down the canal and learned a little bit about the process of making palm sugar, as well as visited a traditional Thai house that King Rama V had visited. Afterwards, we went to King Rama II Memorial Park. The sights and smells were impressive and striking; take a look for yourself...




On Tuesday after training, we went to Rama IX Park (are you noticing that everything is named after a King??) It is a beautiful park that has many trails for running, paddle boats, exercise classes, an outdoor gym, playgrounds, and I'm sure many other places to visit... it's quite large and we only saw a little chunk of it. We also saw a monitor lizard swimming around and fish jumping left and right when we went on the paddle boat.



Cheers to new adventures!